What Drives Israel’s Lucrative Weapons Industry

As with any Israeli operation in the West Bank, there are several ways to understand the recent events in Jenin. Israel’s explanation for its assault on the Palestinian refugee camp — which killed 12 Palestinians, injured 140, and forced thousands to flee — was to curb the rise of Palestinian resistance in the northern West Bank. A recent spike in Palestinian attacks on the Israeli military and civilians has dominated the news. However, Israel’s explanation never acknowledges the constant aggression that comes with a full-blown military occupation. The maintenance and expansion of Israel’s occupation is a primary motivation for Israel’s recent actions in Jenin.

It’s also vital to view the recent Jenin operation from the political standpoint of Israel’s hard-right government. The spike in violence between Israelis and Palestinians — the Israeli military has killed 114 Palestinians this year, and Palestinians have killed 16 Israelis — has given Israel’s extremist politicians a platform to incite hatred and encourage deepening the country’s footprint in Palestinian areas.

National security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who has been convicted of incitement to racism, responded to one recent attack on Israeli settlers with calls for “a military operation to demolish buildings, eliminate terrorists, not one or two, but tens and hundreds, and if…