Israel reckons with a new wave of terrorism and the possibility of a third intifada

Israel has been experiencing a spate of terrorist attacks over the past two weeks.

On March 22, in the southern town of Beersheba, an Islamic State group supporter ran over a cyclist with his car and then stabbed six people. Four of his victims were killed, with the remaining two wounded. The terrorist was shot and killed by two Israeli civilians.

Then, in the northern city of Hadera on Sunday, two IS-supporting Arab Israelis shot and killed two Israeli Border Police officers and injured six other Israelis. The police shot and killed the perpetrators. Next, on Tuesday, five people were shot and killed in the ultra-Orthodox Tel Aviv suburb of Bnei Brak by a Palestinian terrorist. Again, a policeman fatally shot the gunman. A rally in the West Bank offered support to the terrorist’s family. 

These attacks could mark the beginning of a third Palestinian intifada, or uprising. In addition to further attacks, Hamas and Hezbollah could take advantage of the deadly trend and launch rockets into Israel from Gaza and Lebanon. Hamas has condoned the attack in Bnei Brak, calling it a “natural and legitimate response to the terrorism of the occupation.” Of course, Bnei Brak is on Israeli soil. But Hamas revels in the spilling of innocent blood. A Hamas official explained that “the Tel Aviv operation emphasized the unity of the Palestine people everywhere they live.”

It’s important we recognize this rhetoric and its relationship with popular Israeli resistance against their government’s humanitarian assistance to Hamas-controlled Gaza. How would Americans, Australians, Britons, or Indians react if our governments were, even if indirectly, helping a regime that celebrated the murder of our citizens?

The Jewish state must once again prepare for such a multifront terrorist assault. It is worth noting, however, that Arab Israelis have played a crucial role in Israeli intelligence operations. This is not a sectarian struggle — it is a struggle between terrorists and democracy. It is Israel’s enduring struggle.

A struggle, put more simply, between right and wrong.

Jackson Richman is a journalist in Washington, D.C. Follow him @jacksonrichman.