SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is vowing to launch a military operation in the West Bank on a scale not seen since Israel first occupied the territory almost 60 years ago. This is in response to an attack by two Palestinian gunmen on an Israeli military checkpoint near Hebron today that killed two soldiers. The shooting comes amid a surge in settler attacks on Palestinians just four days before Israelis go to the polls to vote in national elections. NPR's Ruth Sherlock joins us now from Tel Aviv, Hi Ruth.
RUTH SHERLOCK, BYLINE: Hi.
DETROW: Tell us what happened at the checkpoint.
SHERLOCK: Well, Israeli soldiers were positioned behind these concrete barriers at this busy checkpoint, which is close to the Palestinian city of Hebron, when two men opened fire. The Israeli military said the firefight continued for about 20 minutes before Israeli soldiers shot dead the attackers, and they said two Israeli soldiers were killed and three others were lightly wounded. But Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu went to the site and now says he's planning a massive military response across the occupied West Bank, starting with the forcible expulsion of Palestinians from a neighborhood of Hebron that the attackers came from.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PRIME MINISTER BENJAMIN NETANYAHU: (Speaking Hebrew).
SHERLOCK: He says, "we will act to demolish this place, to change it completely." You know, he likened the operation to an Israeli military assault against two long-standing Palestinian refugee camps in the northern West Bank last year. That assault displaced tens of thousands of Palestinians. Human Rights Watch said those expulsions amounted to war crimes, a charge that Israel rejects.
On Friday afternoon, the Israeli military had already begun bulldozing homes close to the site of the shooting. Now, the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem is calling on foreign governments to act to prevent what it calls another wave of ethnic cleansing and war crimes.
DETROW: And this comes amid a lot of tension in the West Bank. Ruth, you've been covering it. We've been covering on the show. Settler attacks, detentions of protesters by Israel's military.
SHERLOCK: That's right. You know, experts are calling the levels of violence really unprecedented in the last three years since the Hamas attacks on October 7.
DETROW: And then looking forward, we are just four days away from Israeli elections. How do you think today's attack plays into that on top of everything else?
SHERLOCK: Well, that's really interesting. You know, there have been attacks against soldiers in the occupied West Bank before. So the question is, why is Netanyahu responding with such massive force now? Danny Citrinowicz is a senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, and he told me he believes this is a political decision tied to the elections.
DANNY CITRINOWICZ: For Netanyahu, his ticket before the election is, I'm Mr. Security. So in order to show that he is the protector of Israel, he will take harsh measure in order to show the Israeli public that he supports them and he's defending them.
SHERLOCK: This is a view shared by other analysts, too. They believe this is an effort by Netanyahu to remain in power and not a strategy that ensures Israel's long-term security. Citrinowicz says, you know, Netanyahu's response is collective punishment and that it breeds more enmity that will likely lead to further attacks against Israeli soldiers and civilians.
DETROW: We, of course, heard this week that Netanyahu and President Trump are preparing possible further military strikes in Iran after the U.S. midterms. What do you think this news will have on Israelis as they think about who to vote for in these elections?
SHERLOCK: Analysts say they don't believe this will significantly affect voter outcome because they say those who support a war with Iran are already committed to voting for Netanyahu, who's running in part on a promise to defeat this Iranian regime.
This could matter, though, for what happens after the elections. You know, polls show this election is extremely close. Neither Netanyahu nor his main challenger, Gadi Eisenkot, have enough support to form a government. So it is possible that Netanyahu could use the military strikes on Iran to force the formation of a unity government to manage that war, and that would extend his hold on power.
DETROW: That is NPR's Ruth Sherlock in Tel Aviv. Thanks so much.
SHERLOCK: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
