Einstein said that “the difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.”
The entire world is pointing an angry finger at Israel. One need only look at – or listen to – the headlines of basically every newspaper, TV station, and/or radio channel throughout the world and the message is clear; the Israelis launched a military operation in a refugee camp in the Palestinian city of Jenin. Yes, we are indeed talking about the Israeli military, and indeed, an operation did take place within Jenin.
Yet where is the context? A little bit of depth, perhaps?
As a liberal who had dedicated her entire professional life to promoting co-existence and peace and an Arabist who reads, writes, and speaks Arabic, I am appalled at the complete and utter lack of integrity in such coverage. Why was an attack launched specifically now, after some two decades in which no such extensive Israeli military attack was launched within the West Bank? Who were the targets of this attack? Were they, in fact, the unarmed refugees living for over seven decades in despicable circumstances not fit for animals, within a camp which has zero right to exist, despite endless funds given over the years to the Palestinian leadership by the EU and other international role players?
What on earth had happened to all those funds, which were intended for the improvement of infrastructure, diversification of employment opportunities, transportation, and housing? Why do these refugees still live in a refugee camp, while Abu Mazen, the lawful internationally recognized president of the Palestinian Authority resides in undisguised luxury in the same West Bank?
Rubble on the streets of the West Bank city of Jenin, following a major Israeli aerial and ground offensive in Jenin, in one of Israel’s biggest military operation in the Palestinian territory in years. July 4, 2023. (credit: NASSER ISHTAYEH/FLASH90)So, for a little bit of that context: The operation was launched after much deliberation, excluding the more extreme Right factions of the current Israeli government. They were deliberately excluded from the decision-making process, and not even informed in a cabinet meeting prior to the operation, owing to a lack of trust which is rife among current coalition members. This rules out the innuendo in some media outlets that this operation was a result of the pressure from the extreme Right factions in the coalition, rather than out of necessity, and based on security considerations alone.
Terror preceded the operation in Jenin
PRIOR TO the aforementioned Israeli operation in Jenin, a series of bloody terrorist attacks killed 28 innocent Israeli civilians over the last six months. These premeditated murderous attacks can all be traced back to Jenin, where the armed, incited relatively young Palestinians – funded, trained, and encouraged by Iran and one of its proxies in the region, Hamas – felt empowered by the hero status that they had created for themselves among the Palestinian public.
Hamas impatiently awaits the downfall of its arch enemy – the current Palestinian leadership in the West Bank – in order to take over that region, and rule over the entire Palestinian population.
Meanwhile, it has invested in creating endless “platforms” within the West Bank, which serve the purpose of taking over the Palestinian streets from the current Fatah leadership. Hence, schools, mosques, and other civilian institutions have become sanctuaries for weapons, while Palestinian youth is trained in make-shift camps.
For the Fatah leadership in the West Bank, the current operation launched and carried out by the Israelis is a gift, yet they continue to sound the usual anti-Israel rhetoric against the occupation and the occupiers. Just to bring that point home, on Wednesday morning, the Palestinian president’s deputy who joined the burial event of the combatants who were killed by the IDF, was ousted from the arena in disgrace. That is, despite his known anti-Israel rhetoric throughout the years.
Why? Simply because the perpetrators and the “freedom fighters” belong to Hamas and the Islamic Jihad. The rest of the civilians and those poor refugees – whose leadership insists that they remain in this status, despite endless opportunities to have improved their lives over the past several decades – have been safely evacuated by UNRWA, without Israeli interference. That is simply because the Israeli leadership has little or no interest in hurting innocent bystanders and civilians.
The sole interest of this specific operation was to hurt the perpetrators of the dreadful and gruesome terrorist attacks which Israelis have lived through in the last six months, and to send a clear message to its enemies that there is only so much that Israelis will stand before halting the killing rampage which has become the recent Israeli reality.
The writer is the founder and CEO of Ruth-Strategic Consulting, a former MK for the National Unity Party, a former deputy ambassador to Cairo, and a past adviser to president Shimon Peres.
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