Hamas operating incitement campaign on social media to generate next lone wolf attack

Hamas is operating on social media an incitement campaign presenting operatives as heroes and intended to turn attacks in Judea and Samaria into a model for imitation, against the background of the vehicle-ramming attack on Road 443 in which reserve soldier Neria Leiter was seriously wounded.

According to the report, in channels identified with the terrorist organization, operatives are systematically presented as heroes, murders are defined as 'quality operations,' and Israeli civilians are threatened with shooting, ramming and painful beatings. The goal of the campaign is to glorify those who have already gone out to attack and to push additional Palestinian youth to follow in their footsteps.

In one of the prominent posters, it is written in red letters 'Blood for Blood,' and in another poster, displaying armed operatives, it is claimed that resistance will continue 'until the elimination of Israel.' Many posters are explicitly signed by Hamas, and alongside them are distributed images of shooting attack scenes with the message that Israelis will not be protected from the operatives' bullets.

According to the report, the campaign in Judea and Samaria is led by Zaher Jabarin, defined as number 2 in Hamas, who inherited the Judea and Samaria portfolio after the elimination of Salah al-Arouri in Beirut. Jabarin, born in Ramallah, was arrested in the '90s, tried for life imprisonment and released in the Shalit deal in 2011.

According to the report, activity of the IDF and Shin Bet, including arrests, confiscation of weapons and foiling of cells, blocks the establishment of organized infrastructure, and therefore incitement on social media has become a central operational tool of Hamas. A lone operator, who does not operate under a command framework, poses a much more complex challenge for early identification.