Israelis will not feel safe until Hamas is eradicated - editorial

Three people were savagely murdered and five others were wounded in a shooting attack in Jerusalem on Thursday morning.

The terrorists, two residents of east Jerusalem, came carrying an M16 rifle and a handgun to the Givat Shaul junction at the entrance to the capital, where they opened fire at people gathered at a bus stop. They were shot and killed at the scene by security forces and a civilian.

Hours later, Hamas took credit for the attack.

The man murdered in the attack was 73-year-old Rabbi Elimelech Wasserman, who served as a rabbinical judge in Ashdod. 

One of the women murdered in the attack was 67-year-old Chana Ifergan, the principal of a Beis Yaakov school in Beit Shemesh. 

Livia Dickman, 24, a resident of Har Nof, was named as the third fatality.

On October 7, there was a rush to move away from locations where terrorist attacks might occur as a continuation of the massacre. This, at the time, included Jerusalem, which was targeted by some rockets but remained relatively calm. Israelis feared that they, too, would be targeted, and their families victimized. 

But it was the northern and southern borders that bore the brunt of the attack, and the Tel Aviv area that has seen the heaviest rocket barrages, while the Jerusalem area has remained comparatively calm.

Terror attack incites fear throughout the city

After yesterday’s attack, however, Jerusalem social media groups were aflame with people afraid to leave their homes, scared to catch a bus, and fearful of getting in their cars. At that moment, Jerusalemites knew what it feels like to live along the Gaza or Lebanon borders at this time and were reminded of previous waves of terrorism.

Gaza border communities and Lebanon border towns were ordered to evacuate the day after the war broke out, in concern over possible additional attacks. 

Some residents have since been told that they may return home, but many are concerned and angry.

During the current pause in hostilities, relative peace has been maintained on the northern border. With the exception of a few minor attacks, the northern front has been relatively quiet.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, upon completing a situation assessment in the area last week, said that the successes of the IDF along the border will be “translated” into a situation that will allow the gradual return of northern residents.

This message was received with fury from displaced residents of the north currently residing in central Israel, who have countered that Hezbollah has not relinquished its attempts to attack Israelis.

“We will not let the defense minister... let us be Be’eri.2 or Kfar Azza.3,” said Moshe Davidovich, head of the Matte Asher Council and chairman of the Line of Conflict Forum.

This fear is completely understandable. The horrors of October 7, some of which are only now coming to light, are unimaginable, and when one’s home is under similar threat, it cannot feel like home.The latest deadly attack in Jerusalem – which has been targeted by horrific terrorism in the past – brings that feeling home to the city’s residents.

Much of Israel has gone from a general state of emergency to a sort of wartime routine. 

The war goes on, and Israelis are keenly aware of it, but much of the country has returned to focusing on politics, the economy, and the day after the war. Jerusalem, for its part, had been relatively quiet, and life in the city has started resembling its pre-war routine.

Thursday’s attack served as a wakeup call. The threat posed by terrorist organizations targets Israel as a whole, from Metula to Eilat, and is not confined to border areas. It seeks to rain death and destruction on all Israelis, no matter where we live. 

This fight is everyone’s fight. 

Now is the time to acknowledge that, until this war ends, until Hamas is destroyed entirely, and until Hezbollah is deterred and pushed away from the border, there is no way to make Israelis feel safe.

That is the message that we and our leaders need to internalize and it is the message that should be conveyed to the entre international community.

It is time to eradicate the threat once and for all.