by Yoav Limor
Assuming Israel alerted Jordan to Najar's presence and actions -- something that has yet to be corroborated -- the possibility that Amman is quietly turning a blind eye to Hamas activities on its soil is very disturbing.
Much like the June
murder of Danny Gonen near the community of Dolev in Samaria, the Shvut
Rachel terrorist attack in which Malachi Rosenfeld was killed was also
solved by the Shin Bet security agency quickly. Similar to Gonen's case,
the terrorist cell involved in Rosenfeld's murder had too many members
to evade capture for long.
One can argue that the
Shin Bet should have prevented these attacks, as that is the security
agency's primary mission. But the public, which is aware only of
terrorist attacks that were carried out and is mostly oblivious to those
that were thwarted, should demonstrate maturity. The past few weeks may
have been bloody, but they were the exception to the rule. On every
professional level, counterterrorism is performed at its highest level.
We should, however, be
concerned by the Palestinians' relentless attempts to carry out
terrorist attacks. Hamas is the main instigator, and while it is trying
to maintain order in the Gaza Strip, it is trying to breed chaos in
Judea and Samaria.
Hamas operative Saleh
al-Arouri, who was released in the 2011 prisoner exchange that secured
the return of Israeli soldier captive Gilad Schalit, is orchestrating
these efforts. Arouri oversees Hamas' terrorist cells in Judea and
Samaria from his residence in Turkey, but the arrest of the cell
involved in Rosenfeld's murder suggests the involvement of another
Schalit deal parolee, Ahmed Najar, who is based in Jordan.
While the Turkish
involvement is rather expected given Turkish President Recep Tayyip
Erdogan animosity toward Israel and overt support of Hamas, the
Jordanian angle is new and worrying.
Since Hamas political
leader Khaled Mashaal was expelled from Jordan in 1999, Amman has made
it a point to overtly fight terrorism, independently and alongside
Israel on the joint border.
This collaboration
should have intensified given the threats the Islamic State group and
al-Qaida pose to Jordan, as well as its concerns over the rise of other
Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated groups in the region, so it is difficult
to assess what Najar openly operating in Jordan really means.
Assuming Israel alerted
Jordan to Najar's presence and actions -- something that has yet to be
corroborated -- the possibility that Amman is quietly turning a blind
eye to Hamas activities on its soil is very disturbing.
Incidentally, while the
Shin Bet named Jordan in its statement about the arrests, Defense
Minister Moshe Ya'alon sufficed with saying Hamas was "operating in
neighboring countries," presumably to avoid sparking tensions between
Jerusalem and Amman.
In his statement,
Ya'alon said Israel would be able to thwart terrorism only if it
maintains full freedom to operate across Judea and Samaria. Despite this
being the situation today, two of the terrorists involved in
Rosenfeld's murder were arrested by the Palestinian security forces
before the Shin Bet and the military got to them.
The arrests appeared genuine, not
like past pseudo-measures taken by the Palestinian Authority to protect
terrorists from Israeli authorities, indicating Ramallah is also
concerned by Hamas terrorist activity in Judea and Samaria, and that it
seeks to foil these efforts before it becomes their target.
Yoav Limor
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=13235
Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.
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