So-calledPalestinian Arabs have been attacking Jews/Israelis either by massed armies or by terrorism from before there was even a Jewish state until the present time. Recently there has been a marked escalation in terrorist actions against Israel. In the latest Jewish Link issues, terrorist-related references can be found on numerous pages throughout the issues. Separately, one Hatzalah report recorded 3,640 terror attacks in Israel in the first half of 2023 alone.

In response, Israelis have had to constantly defend themselves against these attacks to try to keep their populace safe, including recent armed forays into Gaza and Jenin. Unfortunately in today’s climate of biased anti-Israel media, the reports are predictably not favorable to Israel. Incidents are invariably reported along these lines:”Israeli armed forces attack Palestinian civilians (or ”militants,” never terrorists) killing a number of civilians and children.” Only buried deeper in the reports may there be some mention that the attacks were in response to Palestinian rocket and missile barrages against unarmed Israeli civilians.

This apparent disproportionality is the reverse of the David and Goliath story, where now the Israelis are displayed as the big bad Goliath brute and the Palestinians are the poor little, lightly armed, David.

All armies, including the IDF, have various specialized branches like air forces, navies, tank brigades, paratrooper units, special forces, etc. I am not aware of a specific IDF unit labeled Anti-Terrorist Task Force. But I think such a unit, when deployed against Palestinian targets, would at least partially mitigate the media implied disproportionality by automatically linking, in the reader’s mind, the Israeli response to the initial terror attacks.

An Anti-Terrorist IDF unit need not be a permanent command, but the combination of manpowers used in such an operation should be labeled as an “Anti-Terrorist Task Force.”Because perception can be just as important as reality.

Max Wisotsky

Highland Park