Palestinians run during clashes with Israeli forces amid an Israeli military operation in Jenin, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank July 3, 2023. REUTERS/Raneen Sawafta

On July 2, 2023, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) launched a limited military operation against terrorist organizations operating in the town of Jenin, located in the northern area of the West Bank. It’s the largest operation in Jenin since Operation Defensive Shield in 2002.

During the 2002 operation, Palestinian and United Nations officials — aided by irresponsible media coverage — spread one of the most notorious libels against the IDF: the “Jenin Massacre.” A Palestinian official claimed at the time, that the IDF had killed some 500 Palestinians, when in truth, only 52 were killed, most of them known terrorist operatives.

With that history in mind, it is important to promote accurate coverage, including of the context leading up to the events in Jenin this week. And here are five important details you may have missed in the media’s coverage of the events so far.

1. The Palestinian Authority’s Loss of Control

Despite its name, the Palestinian Authority (PA) has been largely unable to exert its authority. Though given substantial autonomy over much of the West Bank via the Oslo Accords, towns like Jenin and Nablus have increasingly become ungoverned, as rival Palestinian factions exert growing control. In the words of one former PA official:

It is a failure of the [Palestinian] National Authority, which has not managed to become a proper civil state in which clans and tribes dissolve and whose citizens turn to it for legal succor and for law and order … To resolve conflicts, citizens turn more to clan and tribal frameworks than to the PA institutions, which have begun to lose control over society and over the [armed] gangs — due to the collapse of moral values, the deterioration of the rule of law, and the absence of motivation by the PA itself to fulfill its duties. Beyond all this, the presence of corruption often prevents the PA from addressing the root of these problems fairly and according to the law.

The loss of control is such that PA security forces have hesitated to enter places like Jenin “for fear they would be harmed.” When they do, they are often met with substantial violence. PA officials have instead largely resorted to expressing desperation, charging that terrorist groups like Hamas and Islamic Jihad “are conspiring against the Palestinian leadership” in the West Bank.

The danger presented by the situation has forced Israel’s hand. The IDF has carried out numerous counter-terror raids following a sharp rise in terrorism since early 2022 emanating from places like Jenin. According to the IDF, over 50 shooting attacks have emanated from Jenin in 2023 alone. Demonstrating just how much the PA has lost control of the area, there have even been attempts to launch rockets from Jenin into Israeli communities.

2. The Iranian Role

As CAMERA’s Sean Durns wrote nearly a year ago, “The decline of the PA’s influence, and the commensurate rise of Iranian-sponsored rivals, is newsworthy.”

With the PA unable to exert its authority over parts of the West Bank, Iran’s proxy forces have filled the vacuum, and the Iranian regime has exploited the situation to wage war against the Jewish state. Yet these significant trends have been left largely unreported by international media outlets.

Iran isn’t trying to hide its nefarious actions in Israel. Just a few days ago, Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s leader, Ziyad al-Nakhalah, confirmed that Iran was arming terrorists in the West Bank, and that this was at the direct instruction of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Last year, the commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, Hossein Salami, boasted of Iran’s efforts in “arming the West Bank … to defeat Israel.” Further demonstrating Abbas’ inability to exert control, according to a PA official, terrorists belonging to Fatah — Mahmoud Abbas’ own party — are “on the payroll of Iran and its Palestinian proxies.”

3. The Growing Threat of IEDs

The danger that has been emanating from Jenin is not just a matter of quantity, but also quality. A new threat has been emerging: that of improvised explosive devices (IEDs).

Just last month, one such explosive device — planted by the Iranian proxy group Islamic Jihad — wounded eight IDF soldiers.

This deadly tactic that American soldiers once faced in places like Iraq — which the Iranian regime also had a role in — has now become an increasingly common and serious threat to Israelis. But instead of the IED threat being in a foreign theater on the other side of the world as it was for Americans, this IED threat is in Israel’s own home, threatening its soldiers and civilians alike.

Since the operation began in Jenin, the IDF has captured “explosives manufacturing facilities” containing “hundreds of explosive devices, along with a guidebook on how to make additional explosive devices.”

During today’s counter-terrorism efforts in Jenin, @IDF soldiers located a number of explosives manufacturing facilities. These contained hundreds of explosive devices, along with a guidebook on how to make additional explosive devices and a pit used for concealing weapons.… pic.twitter.com/TaNWoDxo2p

— Israel Foreign Ministry (@IsraelMFA) July 3, 2023

4. Use of Mosques and Other Civilian Facilities by Terrorists

Like their fellow terrorists in the Gaza Strip, it is becoming evident that the terrorists in Jenin have worked to exploit civilian infrastructure, thereby putting civilians in harm’s way. During the recent operation, Palestinian terrorists fired on Israeli forces from a mosque. Upon entry into the mosque, the IDF located explosives and weapons hidden throughout the building, including in two subterranean pits.

Holy places, such as the Al-Nasr Mosque, should not be used as a front for terrorism.

Packed with loads of ammunition, and two underground pits containing explosive devices, this is just one example of how terrorists abuse the citizens of Jenin.

We will continue operating… pic.twitter.com/7eU36tqv16

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) July 3, 2023

Similarly, an “advanced observation and reconnaissance center” used by terrorists in Jenin was located next to two UNRWA facilities and a school. The center had been used as “an observation post, a gathering place for armed terrorists, a storage site for weapons and explosives and a contact and communication center for operatives.”

This is what Jenin has become. Operational sites used by terrorists located next to schools and UNRWA facilities.

Were acting against their “ Safe Havens” pic.twitter.com/uLckxdxE7J

— Lt. Col. Richard Hecht (@LtColRichard) July 3, 2023

5. IDF Efforts to Minimize Civilian Casualties

Whereas Palestinian terrorists have worked to embed themselves among the civilian population of Jenin, Israeli forces have taken action to keep civilians out of harm’s way.

According to Palestinian reports, residents of Jenin were “sent text messages asking them to remain indoors.” Simultaneously, “members of armed groups had received texts urging them to lay down their arms and turn themselves in.” So far, the IDF’s efforts appear to have been successful in limiting civilian casualties — yet you will never read anything about this in the media’s coverage about Israel and the Palestinian dispute.

David M. Litman is a Senior Research Analyst at CAMERA, the 65,000-member, Boston-based Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis.