Judea and Samaria crucible comes to boil, as Gaza continues to simmer
JERUSALEM – If there were an X hashtag to describe the current moment in Israel, it would probably read #AllEyesonJudeaSamaria. As the fragile ceasefire in Gaza continues to hold – with the first small tranche of hostages released and another planned for Saturday – immediate attention is being drawn to Israel’s spine and the biblical heartlands of Judea and Samaria.
It has largely been a forgotten front, especially in comparison with the south-eastern border so infamously penetrated by thousands of Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7, and the northern border over which Hezbollah was firing missiles, drones and rockets on a daily basis. That arena too is somewhat bequieted as an imperfect ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah still holds. There are growing fears Judea and Samaria will shortly become the locus of attention for several different reasons, and could spill over into Israel’s eternal capital, Jerusalem.
Analysts such as veteran journalist Khaled Abu Toameh and Joe Truzman of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies have pointed out a third intifada effectively broke out in June 2021, it’s just nobody officially got round to declaring it. There is significant evidence Iran has taken advantage of Israel’s long and porous border with Jordan to smuggle weapons of increasing power into Judea and Samaria. And the IDF has been conducting operations – sometimes significant in scale and lasting for days at a time – in and around towns such as Jenin and Tulkarem for the last few months.
Indeed, on Tuesday, the IDF in cooperation with the Israel Border Police and the Israel Security Agency launched drone strikes on several targets. The military has reportedly said the operation will continue for as long as is needed.
“The operation has clear objectives: continue to maintain the IDF’s freedom of operation in all of Judea and Samaria and to destroy and neutralize terrorist infrastructure and ‘ticking time bombs,'” the IDF stated. The operation’s codename is “Iron Wall,” a nod to early revisionist Zionist history and the treatise which Ze’ev Jabotinsky penned more than 100 years ago in 1923, in which he outlined the need for a strong military presence to fight back against the Arabs who would do everything in their power to prevent a Jewish presence in its biblical homeland.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu:
“On the directive of the Security Cabinet, the IDF, the ISA and the Israel Police have today begun an extensive and significant military operation to defeat terrorism in Jenin – ‘Iron Wall’.
— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) January 21, 2025
The operation also comes on the back of a reserve soldier’s fatality Monday – and the wounding of several others – when their military vehicle ran over an improvised explosive device while taking part in a counterterrorism action near the northern Samaria town of Tammun.
Israel’s Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Herzi Halevi recently told troops they must be prepared for significant operations in Judea and Samaria in the coming days, which was given even greater urgency following the return of convicted murderers from Israel’s prisons as part of the hostage release shakedown.
FDD CEO Mark Dubowitz painted a grim picture. “The very success with which Israel has neutralized Iranian proxies in Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria has turned the West Bank into an increasingly significant threat. For Tehran, it represents one of the few remaining avenues to strike at the Jewish state. This danger is set to escalate as numerous freed terrorists return in the coming weeks, many eager to resume their jihad.”