TEL AVIV – Wednesday’s terrorist attack in Jerusalem seems to be a “departure” from the so-called wave of violence carried out by Palestinians – motivated largely by anti-Israel incitement – according to Breitbart Jerusalem bureau chief Aaron Klein.
Speaking Wednesday during his regular segment on John Batchelor’s popular nighttime radio show, Klein asked whether the Jerusalem mayhem signifies a new phase of organized, West Bank-based terrorist cells carrying out attacks inside Israel.
In Wednesday’s incident, three terrorists from the northern West Bank armed with a rifle, knives, and an explosive device perpetrated a combined shooting and stabbing attack at Jerusalem’s Damascus Gate, one of the main entrances leading into the Old City.
Two female Border Guards and a civilian were wounded in the attack. One of the guards, identified as Hadar Cohen, 19, was critically wounded and later died from her injuries. The second guard, a 20-year- old, was seriously wounded.
Click below to listen to Klein’s segment on Batchelor’s show:
“It’s a departure from the wave of violence carried out by Palestinians motivated by incitement,” Klein said of the Jerusalem attack.
He continued:
Are we entering a new phase in the so-called wave of terror? Are we entering the phase that Israeli security officials have been very concerned about … and that is organized terrorist cells carrying out attacks? Or competing organized terrorist cells, competing with the different actors behind the scenes, Hamas, Turkey, Iran, Islamic State, all competing with each other both in the West Bank and Gaza and the eastern sections of Jerusalem. All trying to also pressure Israel in different ways.
In Klein’s analysis, the fact that there were three attackers “shows some level of coordination” and is not the normal modus operandi for untrained civilians attacking Israelis.
He also thought it significant that all three attackers hailed from the town of Qabatiya in the Jenin area of the northern West Bank. The area is known to be a terrorist stronghold.
Klein pointed out that Israel is likely investigating three main possibilities for terrorist cells:
- *Fatah involvement, whether sanctioned or not sanctioned by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Last month, Breitbart Jerusalem quoted a Palestinian security official saying Fatah security forces and Abbas have been at odds recently over the latter’s wish to step up the recent wave of Palestinian terror attacks.
- *The axis of Iran-Hezbollah-Islamic Jihad. Two weeks ago, Israel’s security services announced it arrested members of a terrorist cell based in Tulkarm in the West Bank that was under the command of Hezbollah.
- *Hamas in the Gaza Strip seeking to gain momentum in the West Bank.