Occupied JerusalemThe Israeli security establishment expressed its fear of the return of martyrdom operations to Jewish towns within the Green Line, following the video published by the Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas, in which the martyr Jaafar Muna from Nablus, the perpetrator of the Tel Aviv operation that took place last August, appeared.
Tel Aviv fears the return of scenes of martyrdom operations to the Israeli interior, commercial markets, buses, and entertainment centers, after the Hamas and Islamic Jihad movements threatened to resort to them if the war on Gaza continued. These are scenes of operations that accompanied the second intifada in 2000, which continued for two years, the last of which was in 2002.
In an attempt to reduce the state of terror and fear and avoid further destabilization of the collective and individual national security of the Israelis, which has continued since the Battle of “Al-Aqsa Flood,” the Israeli media deliberately did not broadcast or publish the “video of the martyrs.”
The video showed a clip of the martyr Mona on his way to carry out the Tel Aviv operation, and also included scenes from previous martyrdom operations carried out by the Palestinian resistance deep inside Israel, such as the Jerusalem operation in 2001, the Tel Aviv operation in 1994, and the Safed and Emmanuel II operations that took place in 2002, as well as pictures of their perpetrators.
psychological warfare
Israeli estimates agreed that the Qassam “martyrdom video” falls within the context of the psychological warfare that Hamas is waging against the Israelis, and carries within it threatening messages that are viewed seriously and with suspicion and fear of operations that may perpetuate the state of terror of the unknown that the Israelis are living.
Israeli readings agreed that “suicide” operations require recruitment, infrastructure, and preparation from various security agencies, and estimated that such escalation with this type of operations raises fear among Israelis of returning to the difficult days of the Second Intifada.
Even the martyrdom operation carried out by Mona in Tel Aviv last August, martyrdom operations were not on the agenda of the Israeli security services, which ruled out their occurrence despite the ongoing war on Gaza, and warned of the escalation of the use of explosive devices.
In light of these estimates, the commander of the Israeli army’s Central Command, Avi Bilut, included the concept of dual-use materials, such as fertilizers and pesticides, in the list of objectives to be achieved through the military operation “Summer Camps” that the occupation army is carrying out in the West Bank.
New challenges
The correspondent of the Ynet website for West Bank affairs, Elisha Ben Kimon, reviewed the meanings and implications of the Qassam video in which the martyr Mona appeared, the perpetrator of the operation that the Israeli security services refrained from classifying as a “suicide operation”, to avoid further panic among the Israelis.
Kimon pointed out that the Qassam video, which comes in the context of the psychological war waged by Hamas and the threat that the resistance factions will carry out “suicide” operations inside Israel, came to remove all doubt with certainty about classifying the attack that took place in Tel Aviv as a “suicide” attack.
He pointed out that this embarrassed the Israeli security services, because the psychological horror video threatens the Israelis, through the perpetrator of the Tel Aviv operation, Mona, with a return to “suicide operations,” as he put it.
The “martyrdom video” reflects the failure and intelligence failure of the Israeli security services and their inability to confront and thwart individual martyrdom operations, which places the security establishment, as Kimon says, “in front of new challenges if there is an escalation in suicide operations.”
Returning to the investigations conducted by the Israeli police regarding the Tel Aviv operation, where the latest Qassam video came to decipher many secrets, the West Bank affairs correspondent recalled the statements of the Tel Aviv police district commander, Peretz Amar, who confirmed that “Muna was not a person in the intelligence services’ databases.”
Even after Hamas and Islamic Jihad announced the return of martyrdom operations following the Tel Aviv operation last August, the Israeli correspondent explained that “suicide operations were absent from the agenda of the security establishment, which ruled out their occurrence.”
He pointed out that the General Security Service (Shabak) realized months ago the trend of explosive device attacks in the West Bank, and warned that the nature of attacks on Israelis was changing, and that the threat of explosive devices was growing in momentum.
In turn, the Arab affairs correspondent for Israel’s Channel 12, Sapir Lipkin, believes that the latest Qassam video is a continuation of the statement issued by Hamas and Jihad movements following the Tel Aviv operation, noting that the video, with its contents, confirms that the Palestinian factions are moving towards escalating suicide operations in the heart of Israel and igniting tension in the West Bank.
Lipkin believed that Hamas’s escalation in the West Bank and the threat of a return to suicide operations, according to the estimates of the Israeli security services, aims to destabilize security on the home front and among the Israelis, and to influence the course of the war on the Gaza and Lebanese fronts, and to place the Israeli army before new challenges that may distract it from the battle fronts.
The biggest fear
Although the Israeli media refrained from publishing the “martyrdom video,” the security services in Tel Aviv are taking the video and the messages and content it carries seriously, towards escalating attacks inside Israeli cities in particular, says Daniel Hertz, security affairs correspondent for the Kikar Hashabbat website, which is affiliated with the extreme right-wing camp.
Hertz explained that the Qassam video is considered a turning point in the ongoing fighting since the surprise attack carried out by Hamas on October 7, 2023, and he expected that “the suicide attacks will be another step in the pace of armed attacks.”
He pointed out that the greatest fear is the return of “suicide attacks” in the heart of Israel, especially before the Jewish holidays that begin in early October, which would negatively affect the security situation in Israel, as well as the course of the war on multiple fronts.
The same speaker believes that the video falls within the context of the psychological warfare waged by Hamas, and was published at this stage in order to terrorize and frighten the Israelis, by bringing them back to the scenes of suicide operations that Israel experienced in the past, with an indication that “suicide bombers” are present in Israeli territory and can carry out attacks in the heart of cities.
