Yisrael Hasson, 66, former deputy director of the Shin Bet, on how Israel should confront the return of organized terror
rising wave of terror attacks in Israel, beginning with a stabbing attack in Be’er Sheva two weeks ago that took four lives, and continuing into last week’s Bnei Brak shooting that killed five, has put the country on edge. Children ask their parents if it’s safe to go outside, and people with longer memories hope this is not a return to the agonizing days of the Second Intifada.
As more information emerged about the attackers — how much about their intentions was known to authorities, their affiliation with recognized terrorist groups, their postings on social media — the Israeli security establishment has come in for a round of harsh criticism. There is public outrage that the authorities took insufficient action in the face of attacks that were essentially preventable. That sense of disappointment and concern was shared by many within the Israeli security establishment. The string of arrests and thwarted terror attacks over the weekend only drove home the Israeli security apparatus’s prior complacency.
Former IDF commander Maj. Gen. (res.) Gershon Hacohen gave voice to some of that frustration: “In a general way, I believe that the government’s actions are an expression of weakness. The Israeli leadership’s highly publicized efforts to defuse the latent threat of Ramadan, opposite the king’s palace in Amman and the PA in Ramallah, looked like fawning, and projected weakness on the ground. In this respect, the Israeli response, above all, has to project strength and self-confidence according to the standards understood in the region.”
Yisrael Hasson, 66, former deputy director of the Shin Bet and a former Kadima MK, is another one of those establishment voices expressing concern. In a conversation with Mishpacha, he spared no criticism of the government’s security measures, but also expressed hope that the appropriate lessons will be learned, and suggested that the full story of the government’s successes has not been told. He also offered some proposals for buttressing the security situation overall.
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