Jewish terrorism was born out of the colonial system

Israeli authorities considered that the statement issued by the leaders of the most prominent arms of the security establishment (the army, the Shin Bet security service, and the police), which described settler attacks on the Palestinian population and their property in the 1967 lands as “national terrorism in every sense of the word,” is important simply because it calls things by their proper names. . And some others, from the spectrum opposing the rule of the extreme right, added, rightly, that this step came much late, and perhaps reflects a delayed awakening, because the Israeli army itself, and before it served as a tool in the hands of the settlers during Benjamin Netanyahu's repeated terms at the head of the Israeli government, He allowed violence and daily attacks on farmers and shepherds, cutting trees and attacking children, and sometimes his soldiers participated in the attacks, so he is not innocent.

We should add that the name, in and of itself, is not widely disputed within the corridors of the security establishment, at least since the escalation of these attacks a few years ago, and the escalation of the emergence of “price tag” gangs among the settlers, as that institution and a number of Israeli politicians had previously To describe the practices of these gangs as national terrorism or extreme national crimes of a very dangerous kind.

However, the issue lies in the lack of a political decision to pursue these gangs. About ten years ago, the former head of the Shin Bet, Karmi Gilon, announced that this agency could, within a short period of time, put an end to “price tag” crimes if the Israeli political establishment took a decision to combat these operations in the same way as any other operations of a terrorist nature.

He explained that combating these operations did not succeed due to the lack of a real intention to combat them, stressing that it is inconceivable that the Shin Bet would not be able to confront these operations, but it seems that the relevant security authorities do not have enough desire to engage in such a confrontation. In the same period, Israeli security analyst Yossi Melman said that most of the heads of the Shin Bet apparatus seem to have forgotten that the phrase that should direct them is "there is no we can", and they began to adopt the phrase "we do not want"!

Between the past and current periods, and according to Israeli reports, the years 2016 and 2017 witnessed a continuous decrease in the number of violent incidents in the West Bank, which the security establishment considered extremist national crimes, including beatings at Palestinians, throwing stones, vandalizing homes and cars, and cutting down trees. This decrease was mainly attributed to the repercussions of the murder of three members of the Dawabsha family in the village of Duma, which was committed by an Israeli settler who burned the family's house with Molotov cocktails. After the crime, the Shin Bet arrested many right-wing activists in the West Bank who were involved in acts of violence and incitement to violence against the Palestinians. The steps taken during that period, including administrative detention, deportation orders from the West Bank, and permission to conduct an investigation using severe means of pressure in certain cases, strengthened deterrence towards settlers. Against this background, the crimes of Jewish terrorism decreased. However, these steps were soon abandoned and new terrorist groups emerged.

In 2018, there was a significant increase in the number of Jewish terrorist crimes in the West Bank. According to data collected by the Israeli media until mid-December 2018, 482 terrorist incidents were recorded in that year - a threefold increase compared to 2017, when 140 incidents were recorded.

What is now clear, as it has always been, is that these terrorists are not weeds, or a passing phenomenon, but can be considered as battalions of a colonial regime that produces a system of racist laws that deal with people based on their origins and affiliation. As has been said repeatedly, the ongoing Israeli legislation not only serves the system of dispossession, expulsion and oppression of the indigenous population, but also aims to ensure the continued generation of a group of loyal and obedient settlers ready to be the spearhead of this system.