It's time to move from words to action
Op-ed: Looking at the recent events as a series of acts committed by 'lone-wolf terrorists' is wrong; it's a national struggle. In order to win this battle, Israel must seriously consider reusing the deterring and effective tool of expulsion.
It's time to stop believing that we can "contain" the events until they fade away through measured responses. The disadvantage of any initiative is as concrete as the disadvantage of any strategy or plan. We must start initiating in order to win.
It isn't true that we can't win this battle. There were those who said that during the second intifada as well. They were wrong. Israel did succeed in defeating suicide terrorism at the time.
Even if the characteristics of the current intifada are different - it can also be subdued. Looking at the events as a series of acts committed by "lone-wolf terrorists" is wrong. It's a national struggle. The important thing is to create a losing balance for the side which chose to use violence.
The current wave of terror is backed by all the Palestinian factions, which are encouraging the violence and pushing for an escalation. They are expecting to gain from the violent move whose purpose, as they see it, is to stir things up.
Like in Protective Edge, the leaders of the battle prefer to use "more of the same" and reject any other idea.
It's crystal clear that the government is lagging behind the events. It is taking steps which it should have perhaps taken to begin with, when it's already too late and their effectiveness is low.
Jerusalem has been burning in low intensity for a year. The political echelon knew that the capital should be flooded with massive police and security forces, but failed to do so. Once it came to its senses, the violence had already spilled over from Jerusalem to the entire country.
The perception that we must not "close off territories," so as not to expand the circle of unrest, ignored the developments in Hebron and its surroundings. There was no significant handling of the illegal residents issue.
We must seriously consider going back to a deterring and effective tool which was used in the past and abandoned: Expulsion. Especially as we are talking about inciters, who - as even the government spokespeople admit - are the engine of the current violence.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is enjoying relatively convenient strategic conditions: Syria and Hezbollah are up to their necks in the internal war in Syria, the Arab world is mainly busy with itself, and Europe is afraid of the Islamist terror.
It's time to move from words to action, from instinctive reactions to a policy. Former Shin Bet chief Avi Dichter said recently that the difference between a wave of terror and an intifada is loss of control. This point has been crossed. Now we must regain control, and restore security for Israel and its citizens.
Former Minister Gideon Sa'ar served as cabinet secretary during the second intifada and a member of the security cabinet in the second Netanyahu government. He is currently a distinguished senior fellow at the Institution for National Security Studies (INSS).
