“Lion’s Den”, the new organization in Nablus that took responsibility for some of the attacks that recently hit the Judea and Samaria region, continues to trouble Israel and the Palestinian Authority. How did it gain popularity in the territories of the West Bank, and why has the IDF not carried out an extensive operational action so far in order to bring an end to its activities? Maariv’s military reporter, Tal Lev Ramand a commentator on news 12, Hemo fantried to answer these questions this morning (Thursday) in a conversation with Golan Yokhpaz and Anat Davidov on 103FM.
According to Lev Ram, “This phenomenon is mainly an idea, more than an organization. Hamas is also behind the scenes of many things, it understands the potential of this phenomenon of the Lions’ Den organization. It is an instigator, it is on social media. When you look at the role of Hamas in the latest wave of terrorism – unequivocally it has a role. It wants to rake in the coupons, even though it is often not its job.”
“The Nablus story is very interesting and the ‘Lions Den’ story is even more interesting. I don’t agree with this statement that there are 100-150 young people, and that’s the story. More than organizing, and there are terrorists who know, it’s an idea. Many times it happens that someone goes out to carry out an attack, And after some time he says he is from the Lions’ Back. This is not what we know of an institutionalized organization with infrastructure. This phenomenon is very dangerous, as time goes by they become more sophisticated, their attacks are better and they learn lessons.”
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“They have a very big influence”
“There were attempts by the Palestinian Authority to talk to them and disarm them through dialogue,” Hamu noted at the beginning of the conversation with Nissim Mashal and Anat Davidov. “The Palestinian Authority offered them quite extravagant offers, such as buying their weapons and the like. This is a practice that worked in the past. However, the young men of the Lion’s Den did not agree to it, and they are still walking around armed,” he said.
The commentator added that the phenomenon of the ‘lion’s den’ is interesting because it is a testimony to the thirst for symbols of young people in Judea and Samaria: “Tens of thousands and even more, who have seen Gaza for years producing symbols of ‘resistance’, and Judea and Samaria has been quiet for 17 years. It is not succeeding To produce symbols of struggle for the younger generation, and suddenly young guys arrive who excite the imagination. There are people here who document the attacks and upload them to the web. There is already an understanding of how the media works.”
When asked why the IDF did not enter the West Bank in a massive operation in order to dismantle the organization, Hamu replied that “the IDF does. They say that this whole story was born from the elimination of the IDF in Nablus.” It is an event that unfolds and leads to the establishment of this group, so they claim. It may be that the IDF will enter, I don’t know.”
Regarding the extent of their influence, he explained: “They have a very large influence, they are a headache for the PA and for Israel. It is not so easy to eliminate them. We have seen the actions of the Navy in Nablus, we are talking about hundreds and thousands of weapons that are in the area. It’s a very complex event from an operational point of view.”
To the claim that the IDF already knew more complex operations, his father-in-law replied that “that’s right, you can also bring in a brigade and occupy the entire Kasbah of Nablus. The question is if you want to do it. But no one is considering a major occupation operation, and I can understand that. Do we want to turn Nablus into Jenin?”