’Israel’ is Beginning to Eat Its Own

Amos Harel

After nearly five months of continuous violence, "Israel" finally seems to have lost its nerve.

Although "Israelis" have encountered far more serious periods of conflict with Palestinians in the past, the current era of stabbings and vehicle operations has thrown them off balance...

This time, however, things have evolved differently. While the number of casualties remains significantly lower than the comparable period in the beginning of the Second Intifada in 2000 - 174 Palestinians and 31 "Israelis" have died so far, about 60 percent of the numbers last time - the "Israeli" reaction seems far more frantic and confused.

The "government" is now actively promoting a bill that would allow Knesset members to suspend their colleagues for supporting terrorism, as well as a "transparency bill" that would force left-wing NGOs receiving financial support from foreign governments to publicly report such assistance.

"Israeli" Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu led the campaign against Arab-"Israeli" members of the Knesset [MKs], after three such MKs attended a meeting with families of Palestinian revolutionaries who were killed by "Israeli" police... Months later, he promised to continue building fences along all of "Israel's" borders in order to keep out "predators."

Meanwhile, an ultra-right-wing grassroots organization, Im Tirtzu, initiated a public campaign against left-wing groups and "human rights organizations", describing them as shtulim - Hebrew for "implants" or "moles," carrying the implication that they are aiding "Israel's" enemies. On Feb. 16, Jerusalem [al-Quds] police even briefly detained two Washington Post journalists for suspected "incitement" of Palestinians after conducting interviews with residents outside the Old City.

In what might be perceived as a rare moment of comic relief, a Likud backbencher surprised fellow MKs earlier this month by revealing that, in fact, there's no such place as Palestine. The reason? There is no letter "p" in Arabic. "Pa, pa," she sputtered from the podium while Arab MKs watched in disbelief.

The response of "Israel's" opposition to the current situation has also been beset by confusion. Opposition leader Isaac Herzog recently proclaimed that the "two-state" solution was currently unrealistic. His partner in the Zionist Union party, Tzipi Livni, slammed international media for being "hostile" toward "Israel" at a special session convened by a Knesset subcommittee. Herzog and Livni's main competitor for leadership of the anti-Netanyahu camp, Yesh Atid party leader Yair Lapid, has been busy attacking "Breaking the Silence" - an NGO made up of "Israeli" forces veterans that collects soldiers' testimonies about the moral price of the ongoing occupation.

Nobody should be nostalgic for the Second Intifada. It was an ugly period, full of devastating incidents... "Israel's" prime minister at the time, Ariel Sharon, used aggressive means to thwart Palestinian operations. But Sharon, for better or worse, was constantly on the initiative: He ordered a military operation to reoccupy Palestinian towns in the West Bank... in March 2002; began construction of a barrier that separated "Israel" from the West Bank; and later on, fearing a loss of support for "Israel" in the West as well as growing rifts in "Israeli" society, ordered a unilateral disengagement from the Gaza Strip.

Netanyahu's never-ending era as prime minister has been far less eventful. To the prime minister's credit, there is always a significant gap between his tough rhetoric and actual cautiousness when applying military force. He has avoided unnecessary wars with Hizbullah, limited the scope of armed conflicts with Hamas, and showed much better recognition of the risks posed by the so-called Arab Spring than Western leaders, who were thrilled by events in Tahrir Square five years ago.

But the current mini-Intifada has caught Netanyahu, as well as "Israeli" security agencies, ill-prepared. Out of more than 280 operations since Oct. 1, only one - the first - has been the work of an organized Hamas cell. Most others were "lone-wolf" operations, initiated by young Palestinians with no prior record. The "Israelis" are now trying to develop a better way of monitoring Palestinian social media, hoping that this could provide them with clues for future operations. But as Army Chief of Staff Gadi Eizenkot admitted last month, not even one operation has so far been foiled because of an early warning supplied by "Israel's" massive intelligence-gathering apparatus.

It is, of course, much harder to identify in advance a 16-year-old armed with a knife he took from his mother's kitchen than a suicide bomber sent on his way by a small network. But the series of operations has eroded many "Israelis'" sense of relative personal security, which has been Netanyahu's main accomplishment - and the source of his electoral strength - during the last seven years. Some operations initiated by Arab-"Israelis" have also damaged the sensitive relationship between Jews and Arabs inside "Israel", and there is a growing risk of a new round of violence in Gaza, where Hamas has successfully rebuilt its network of tunnels.

Faced with such challenges, Netanyahu's rhetoric has become more bellicose, but little has changed in "Israel's" actual military stance. The reason for the Israeli army's rather restrained approach is the attitude of both War Minister Moshe Yaalon and Gen. Eizenkot. The conduct of these two leaders represents the only source for relative optimism in this rapidly darkening picture: Eizenkot, in particular, has been quite outspoken about lessons he learned from the Second Intifada and has insisted on the need to avoid collective punishment against Palestinians in the West Bank.

Eizenkot has also been wary of suggestions that the army conduct a massive incursion inside the Gaza Strip as a preemptive measure against the Hamas tunnels. The two officials support a rise in the number of work permits for Palestinians inside "Israel"; earlier this month, the security cabinet approved their proposal to increase the number by 50 percent, to 90,000 permits.

Nahum Barnea, a veteran political commentator in "Israel" and a critic of Netanyahu, wrote this month that in his unassuming way, Eizenkot is now filling "Israel's" leadership vacuum.

A few more of these public compliments, and the "Israeli" forces' commander might find himself at odds with the prime minister's office.
Meanwhile, the political discourse in "Israel" continues to deteriorate. On Feb. 18, two teenage Palestinian boys stabbed two "Israelis" at a supermarket in a settlement north of Jerusalem; one died from his wounds, and the other was severely injured.

The "Israeli" right quickly pinned blame for the operation on an unlikely source. "I hope that Eizenkot's remarks yesterday [Wednesday] against the use of automatic weapons while dealing with attackers didn't cause life-threatening hesitation," Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz wrote on Facebook.

Katz, whose relationship with Netanyahu has recently soured, entered politics as a close supporter of former Prime Minister Sharon. It's hard to imagine Sharon putting up with such behavior during the Second Intifada. But perhaps Sharon was luckier than Netanyahu - at least he didn't have to deal with his ministers turning to social media in order to give advice about "self-defense" to soldiers and settlers. Not only is this new Intifada not going anywhere soon, it is already making "Israelis" lose all sense of proportion.

Source: FP, Edited by website team