The current spate of unprovoked stabbing attacks against Jews in Jerusalem is disturbing for many reasons, not the least of which is the intimately personal nature of stabbing someone to death – you are looking into their eyes, smelling the fear and hearing the agonized screams as you open their bodies to the air.
This is not your father’s intifada. Indiscriminate bombings and random rocket attacks have been supplanted by personal violence designed to terrify and horrify not only the victims, but bystanders and witnesses.
Knife wounds are hideous things to see, and they often result in a maelstrom of blood as the victim attempts to defend themselves, or flee from their assailant. Unlike bombings or shootings, which are over in a very short space of time, a knife attack can go on for several gruesome and horrifying minutes, multiplying their effectiveness through the lingering images seared into the memories of both victim and witness.
Israelis are used to bombings. They are no longer terrified by the scream of the siren, having endured thousands of rocket attacks. They are however vulnerable to personal danger, such as that represented by a smiling youth barely into his teens suddenly slashing your wife and children with a razor sharp blade and a cold dead hatred behind his eyes.
To understand this change in tactics, it is instructive to examine the intifadas that preceded this one. Dr. Mark Christian* of the Global Faith Institute (GFI) (himself a former Muslim whose father and uncle remain high-ranking members of the Muslim Brotherhood in his native Egypt) helps to explain the back-story.
“The first intifada gave birth to HAMAS, radicalizing resistance to Israel in new ways, birthing truly organized terror.”
“The second intifada was about FATAH taking back the mantle of power from HAMAS, positioning themselves to be the chief tormentors of the Jewish people” Christian said at a recent GFI event.
“This new intifada is different…it features younger assailants – primarily male – from both HAMAS and FATAH. While the purpose is still the tormenting of the Jew, the end game is nothing less than the rule of Jerusalem.”
It is Dr. Christian’s assertion that the Jewish people will not simply cede Jerusalem – their capital – to the “Palestinians,” no matter the manner of violence or the frequency of attacks. It will take something much more powerful than violence to wrest control of the Holy City from the Jews; it will take the efforts of the “international community,” with the tacit approval of the United States. This current intifada is about planting seeds that will ultimately bear a very bitter harvest for the Jews.
The Obama administration has been no friend to Israel or her people. Their adventurism in the Middle East via the “Arab Spring” and Syrian debacles has strengthened the hand of Israel’s enemies. Israel grows more isolated by the day, while the sworn blood enemy of the Jewish people, (Islam) is positioned to re-emerge in the form of a revived Ottoman Empire.
Jerusalem has always been the glistening jewel in the crown of the Middle East, and the Islamists intend to acquire it.
Again, from Dr. Christian – “The previous intifadas have failed for many reasons, but chief among them has been the inability of the Muslim side to coalesce around a single leader. Since the death of Arafat, the struggle between HAMAS and FATAH has worsened exponentially. Israel makes good use of that schism and does what it can to pit HAMAS and FATAH against each other in order to weaken both.”
The Arabs aren’t stupid however; they understand their position and recognize Israel’s influence for what it is, despite being unable to effectively counter it. Until now.
The seemingly unorganized nature of these attacks (USA today used the word “unaffiliated” to describe the attackers) combined with the savage bloody spectacle they present creates a sense of chaos amidst one of the most controlled cities on the planet. This is entirely by design.
Dr. Christian continues “If the enemies of Israel can convince the rest of the world that the Jews have lost control of Jerusalem, that they are not only powerless to halt the attacks, but in fact merit the attacks by their presence and behavior, the advocates of third-party intervention will be greatly empowered in their perennial efforts to force a provisional “independent” government upon Jerusalem, under the auspices of the international community.”
Of course, this is only an interim step toward that same international community awarding the eternal control of the Jewish capital to the so-called “Palestinians.”
Where brute force fails, as it did in ’67, ’73 etc., asymmetrical warfare often succeeds.
But when the target becomes too hardened for terrorism to succeed in a meaningful fashion, as is the case in Jerusalem, then it is time for the strategy to shift yet again, this time giving terrorism a more legitimate “revolutionary” face.
The anti-Israel bias in the media lends itself willingly to altering the narrative. These new attackers are no longer garden variety Jew-haters, but rather a “new,” “organic movement against Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands,” as a recent AP story put it.
The aim is to drive a wedge between the left-wing “land for peace” crowd, (in Israel and abroad) and the current government. They are attempting to convince the average Israeli that only a third party can stop the bloodshed and keep the peace.
It’s the same Alinsky tactic the Left has used again and again; render a system unworkable, declare it irretrievably broken, then demand a “reformed” system be put in its place, (think death penalty and health care).
Dr. Christian maintains that “the current unrest in Jerusalem bears the hallmark of the “Arab Spring.” The masterful use of social media for planning and real-time incitement through strategically timed propaganda is by no means accidental.”
Of course, the news that the propaganda was entirely false only comes out long after the desired bloodshed and“Just as the Arab Spring was never a movement for self-government, but rather a carefully orchestrated operation of the Muslim Brotherhood to replace largely secular dictatorships with thoroughly Islamist dictatorships, this current intifada isn’t about supposed “Israeli oppression” or “occupation,” but rather an attempt to force the Jews of Jerusalem into an untenable position, leaving them no option but to accept the intervention of an international “middle-man.” property damage has occurred.
Dr. Christian concludes “Just as the Arab Spring was never a movement for self-government, but rather a carefully orchestrated operation of the Muslim Brotherhood to replace largely secular dictatorships with thoroughly Islamist dictatorships, this current intifada isn’t about supposed “Israeli oppression” or “occupation,” but rather an attempt to force the Jews of Jerusalem into an untenable position, leaving them no option but to accept the intervention of an international “middle-man.”
Just as the Arab Spring had the fingerprints of the Obama administration all over it, this new initiative appears to as well. It seems that America is now literally stabbing Israel in the back.
Joe Herring is a freelance writer based in Omaha, Nebraska
*Dr. Mark Christian is the President and Executive Director of the Global Faith Institute. A former Islamic Imam who converted from Islam to Christianity, he has dedicated his life and work to the proposition that “the first victims of Islam are the Muslims themselves.” www.globalfaith.org