The poorly named “Second Intifada” from September 2000 until 2004, was a period of Palestinian jihadi pogroms against Jews in Israel. Hundreds of Arab attackers bombed buses and ice cream stores, stabbed and ran over women and children in the street, and stoned cars carrying families. Well over 1,000 Jews were killed in their war on innocents.
The Palestinian community was very supportive of the murders. A December 2001 PCPSR poll of Palestinians found that 22.7% and 57.4% of West Bank Arabs “strongly supported” and “supported” armed attacks against Israelis, respectively, with 61.4% believing violence against Israeli civilians inside of Israel could achieve “Palestinian rights” more than negotiations. As such, the Palestinian slaughter of Jewish civilians continued.
The “Second Intifada” / Two Percent War came to a close when Israel built a security barrier which limited the entry of Palestinian Arabs into Israel. When Israel handed Gaza to the Palestinians in 2005 after assurances from the United States that it would support Israel’s annexation of parts of the West Bank, the center of Palestinian attacks mostly came from Gaza, not the West Bank.
That has now changed.
While the majority of Gazans have consistently favored killing Israeli civilians, the period before March 2021 had only about 25% of West Bank Arabs supporting murdering Jews inside of Israel. (To say only to one-out-of-four Palestinians in favor of killing innocent Jews is a relatively good figure is appalling, and goes to the jihadi mindset prevalent in the region). The figure jumped to about one-out-of-three after May 2021, when Israel made attempts to evict Palestinian squatters in Shiekh Jarrah in Jerusalem, and Hamas launched rockets into Israel in protest. According to the PCPRS poll in June 2021, Palestinians concluded that Hamas won the battle as Israel halted the eviction, meaning, violence pays off.
Between June 2021 and September 2022, the six PCPRS polls had West Bank Arab support for killing innocent Israeli Jews between 26% and 35%. Then the December 2022 poll showed a step up to 46% support and March 2023 jumped further to 57% support for murdering Jews inside of Israel. There were a few reasons for the jumps.
In the three months before the December 2022 poll, several events happened:
- all Palestinian factions met in Algiers and voted to reconcile and hold new elections
- Israel elected Benjamin Netanyahu to be Prime Minister again with a coalition of ultra-Orthodox Jews and those backing Jewish rights east of the 1949 Armistice Lines (E49AL)
- The newest terrorist groups in the West Bank, the “Lions’ Den” and Jenin Battalion became known in widespread media coverage
The pollsters also believed that the World Cup in Qatar was a factor, noting that it helped “restore Palestinian public trust in the Arab World after years of disappointment.” Further, it added that “in light of the escalating armed clashes in the West Bank and the near formation of a right wing and extreme government in Israel, the Palestinian public becomes more hardline while indicating a greater confidence in the efficacy of armed struggle.” (Note that Arabs use the phrase “armed struggle” to defend the reality of the open slaughter of innocents.)
The three months before the March 2023 poll were not as eventful, but did see the point blank shooting of two Israeli brothers who drove into the Arab town of Huwara, and the subsequent revenge attack by Israelis on the town. The pollsters concluded that “In light of the recent events in Huwara and the northern West Bank, Palestinian public attitudes become more militant as support for armed struggle rises,… and for the first time since the creation of the PA, a majority says that its dissolution or collapse serves the interest of the Palestinian people.”
The more moderate West Bank Arabs have now joined the jihadists in the terrorist enclave of Gaza to conclude that the Oslo Accords and the creation of the Palestinian Authority does not serve their interests. They have decided that the best way to secure their “rights” is via “armed struggle”, now with more arms, and the belief that more people will support their cause now than during the scorched earth pogroms of 2000-2004.
They have reasons to believe in their latest jihad.
Not only has Israel still not evicted the Palestinian Arab squatters in homes in Sheikh Jarrah, for the first time ever, Democrats in the United States have more sympathy for Palestinian Arabs than Israelis, according to a March 2023 Gallup poll. Left-wing politicians are leaning into the poll, such as Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) and Representative Jamaal Bowman (D-NY16), now pushing to condition military aid to Israel.
That will likely encourage Palestinian Arabs to continue their violent attacks against Jews in Israel and the West Bank, and anti-Semites/ anti-Zionists to attack Jews around the world.
The movement to “Globalize the Intifada” began to gather steam right after the May 2021 skirmish as Palestinians concluded that violence pays off. It is now reaching the boiling point as people conclude that governmental-led society is broken and should be abandoned.
It is called anarchy, and is coming for the Jews first.
Related articles:
The Current Intifada against Everyone
The Anti-Semitism In Anti-Zionism
Radical Muslim Groups Celebrate Bombings And Murder of Jewish Teenager In Jerusalem
{Reposted from the author’s blog}
