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Why Is the Media Blaming Israel for Stopping Terrorist Attacks in the West Bank?
A Palestinian man walks near Israeli military vehicles, during an Israeli raid in Jenin, in the West Bank, August 31, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Ammar Awad
Since Hamas’ brutal October 7 massacre in southern Israel, another war-front has been simmering in the West Bank. Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad cells, operating throughout Palestinian towns and cities in these territories, have escalated their terror attacks against Israelis.
Since October 7, more than 4,000 attacks have been reported from the West Bank alone, including an attempted mass-casualty suicide bombing in Tel Aviv last month, and a deadly stabbing outside a mall in Gan Yavne.
In response, the IDF has launched numerous counterterrorism operations, targeting heavily-armed terrorists in these areas. The IDF faces the added challenge of uncovering bombs buried beneath roads, using bulldozers to dig under the asphalt.
Israeli military officials have emphasized that these operations are aimed at preventing major terror attacks, with nighttime raids targeting terror leaders, operatives, and bomb labs. However, they acknowledge that while commanders and bomb makers will eventually be replaced, reestablishing bomb-making facilities will take more time for the terrorists.
This volatile situation in the West Bank was the focus of a Sky News segment titled, “Could Israel face a third intifada in the West Bank?” featuring security analyst Michael Clarke.
While Clarke acknowledged the flow of Iranian money and weapons fueling Palestinian terror in the West Bank, unfortunately, parts of his analysis were marked by conjecture and unsubstantiated insinuations.
Suspicion Cast on Israeli Motives
From the outset, Clarke casts doubt on the legitimacy of the IDF’s operations. He acknowledges that the IDF claims its actions are based on intelligence about imminent terrorist attacks, but conspiratorially adds: “Do they really have intelligence of plots that were about to be triggered? Most of us think that’s less likely.”
Who exactly this “most of us” refers to is left unclear. He conveniently ignores the numerous recent terror attacks thwarted by the IDF, such as the one when a would-be suicide bomber en route to Tel Aviv was stopped at a military checkpoint after traveling from his home in Jenin.
Clarke then suggests that Israel’s actions could “trigger a third intifada,” likening the situation to the early 2000s and predicting a “general uprising” because there are “three and a half million people in the West Bank who are very, very angry with Israeli security forces.”
He implies that this anger stems from Israel’s so-called “aggressive” counterterrorism strategy:
The bulldozers that we see are very a symbol of all of this because Israelis claim correctly that Palestinian militants are planting bombs in the roads … but the response of the Israelis to that is to take up the whole road, in a sense, to punish the neighborhood by saying that if you allow these people to plant bombs in your road, you’ll lose the road, and that’s a very aggressive counterterrorist technique.
First, and this shouldn’t need to be stated repeatedly, the argument that Israel’s defensive actions are “triggering” further violence is absurd. It implies that Israel should allow its civilians to be murdered in the streets because preventing those deaths might provoke the attackers even more.
Second, the violence Clarke refers to during the Second Intifada was not an “uprising” against military forces or the Israeli presence in the West Bank. These were campaigns of terror targeting civilians inside Israel.
The Dolphinarium discotheque massacre, the Sbarro pizza bombing, and countless shootings and stabbings weren’t acts of resistance against soldiers or “the occupation.” They were cold-blooded attacks on ordinary people.
Third, Clarke’s claim that the IDF uses bulldozers to “punish” Palestinians ignores the plain reality. Bulldozers are essential for uncovering bombs buried beneath roads, preventing IDF soldiers from being blown up.
In the end, Clarke’s analysis — presented by Sky News as expert opinion and left unchallenged — follows a familiar pattern, the eternal paradigm the media refuses to abandon. Even as the attackers, Palestinians are paradoxically framed as victims, while Israel is cast as the provocateur of their “justifiable” anger.
The author is a contributor to HonestReporting, a Jerusalem-based media watchdog with a focus on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias — where a version of this article first appeared.
The post Why Is the Media Blaming Israel for Stopping Terrorist Attacks in the West Bank? first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israel Says Missile Launched by Yemen’s Houthis ‘Most Likely’ Intercepted
Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi addresses followers via a video link at the al-Shaab Mosque, formerly al-Saleh Mosque, in Sanaa, Yemen, Feb. 6, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
The Israeli army said on Saturday that a missile fired from Yemen towards Israeli territory had been “most likely successfully intercepted,” while Yemen’s Houthi forces claimed responsibility for the launch.
Israel has threatened Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement – which has been attacking Israel in what it says is solidarity with Gaza – with a naval and air blockade if its attacks on Israel persist.
The Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said the group was responsible for Saturday’s attack, adding that it fired a missile towards the southern Israeli city of Beersheba.
Since the start of Israel’s war in Gaza in October 2023, the Houthis, who control most of Yemen, have been firing at Israel and at shipping in the Red Sea, disrupting global trade.
Most of the dozens of missiles and drones they have launched have been intercepted or fallen short. Israel has carried out a series of retaliatory strikes.
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Iran Holds Funeral for Commanders and Scientists Killed in War with Israel
People attend the funeral procession of Iranian military commanders, nuclear scientists and others killed in Israeli strikes, in Tehran, Iran, June 28, 2025. Photo: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
Large crowds of mourners dressed in black lined streets in Iran’s capital Tehran as the country held a funeral on Saturday for top military commanders, nuclear scientists and some of the civilians killed during this month’s aerial war with Israel.
At least 16 scientists and 10 senior commanders were among those mourned at the funeral, according to state media, including armed forces chief Major General Mohammad Bagheri, Revolutionary Guards commander General Hossein Salami, and Guards Aerospace Force chief General Amir Ali Hajizadeh.
Their coffins were driven into Tehran’s Azadi Square adorned with their photos and national flags, as crowds waved flags and some reached out to touch the caskets and throw rose petals onto them. State-run Press TV showed an image of ballistic missiles on display.
Mass prayers were later held in the square.
State TV said the funeral, dubbed the “procession of the Martyrs of Power,” was held for a total of 60 people killed in the war, including four women and four children.
In attendance were President Masoud Pezeshkian and other senior figures including Ali Shamkhani, who was seriously wounded during the conflict and is an adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as well as Khamenei’s son Mojtaba.
“Today, Iranians, through heroic resistance against two regimes armed with nuclear weapons, protected their honor and dignity, and look to the future prouder, more dignified, and more resolute than ever,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, who also attended the funeral, said in a Telegram post.
There was no immediate statement from Khamenei, who has not appeared publicly since the conflict began. In past funerals, he led prayers over the coffins of senior commanders ahead of public ceremonies broadcast on state television.
Israel launched the air war on June 13, attacking Iranian nuclear facilities and killing top military commanders as well as civilians in the worst blow to the Islamic Republic since the 1980s war with Iraq.
Iran retaliated with barrages of missiles on Israeli military sites, infrastructure and cities. The United States entered the war on June 22 with strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.
TRUMP THREAT
Israel, the only Middle Eastern country widely believed to have nuclear weapons, said it aimed to prevent Tehran from developing its own nuclear weapons.
Iran denies having a nuclear weapons program. The U.N. nuclear watchdog has said it has “no credible indication” of an active, coordinated weapons program in Iran.
Bagheri, Salami and Hajizadeh were killed on June 13, the first day of the war. Bagheri was being buried at the Behesht Zahra cemetery outside Tehran mid-afternoon on Saturday. Salami and Hajizadeh were due to be buried on Sunday.
US President Donald Trump said on Friday that he would consider bombing Iran again, while Khamenei, who has appeared in two pre-recorded video messages since the start of the war, has said Iran would respond to any future US attack by striking US military bases in the Middle East.
A senior Israeli military official said on Friday that Israel had delivered a “major blow” to Iran’s nuclear project. On Saturday, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said in a statement that Israel and the US “failed to achieve their stated objectives” in the war.
According to Iranian health ministry figures, 610 people were killed on the Iranian side in the war before a ceasefire went into effect on Tuesday. More than 4,700 were injured.
Activist news agency HRANA put the number of killed at 974, including 387 civilians.
Israel’s health ministry said 28 were killed in Israel and 3,238 injured.
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Pro-Palestinian Rapper Leads ‘Death to the IDF’ Chant at English Music festival
Revellers dance as Avril Lavigne performs on the Other Stage during the Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm, in Pilton, Somerset, Britain, June 30, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Dylan Martinez
i24 News – Chants of “death to the IDF” were heard during the English Glastonbury music festival on Saturday ahead of the appearance of the pro-Palestinian Irish rappers Kneecap.
One half of punk duo based Bob Vylan (who both use aliases to protect their privacy) shouted out during a section of their show “Death to the IDF” – the Israeli military. Videos posted on X (formerly Twitter) show the crowd responding to and repeating the cheer.
This comes after officials had petitioned the music festival to drop the band. The rap duo also expressed support for the following act, Kneecap, who the BCC refused to show live after one of its members, Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh – better known by stage name Mo Chara – was charged with a terror offense.
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