Videos that circulated on social media in Israel on Monday showing members of Palestinian Authority (PA) security forces using RPG launchers against terror groups in the Jenin refugee camp shocked and alarmed Israelis, bringing up horrifying memories from Hamas’ October 7 assault.

In another display of the “Trump effect,” the PA security forces are currently carrying out an unprecedented operation in the Jenin refugee camp against Hamas and Jenin terror groups to try to prove the authority of the PA, which long ago lost control of terror hotspots in areas like Jenin and Shechem.

Israeli security officials have launched an investigation into the incident and are examining whether the PA forces seized the RPGs during the operation in Jenin or other terror hotspots in northern Shomron – and how the RPGS were smuggled to Yehudah and Shomron.

Yoav Zitun, the military correspondent for Ynet and Yediot Aharonot, wrote: “The RPG incident in Jenin is an unprecedented event that should shock IDF leaders into immediately prioritizing Yehudah and Shomron, even at the expense of the strange victory tours that IDF soldiers were sent to carry out in the Syrian Golan.”

“The assessment that the PA forces seized this weaponry inside the refugee camp and were just posing with it should be more concerning than encouraging. Iran has repeatedly tried to smuggle this lethal and equilibrium-breaking weaponry to the Shomron in recent years.”

The head of the Beit El Local Council Shai Alon said: “It doesn’t matter whose RPGs they are. The dangerous reality is the problem. The situation in Jenin, where the PA’s security forces are putting on a show of ‘fighting terrorism’ while using advanced weaponry should raise a glaring red flag.”

“Even if this weapon is not directed towards us today, history has taught us that a ‘turn of guns’ is not an imaginary scenario. The PA’s terrorists are not a true partner – this is a threat waiting for the right moment to strike us. If we don’t  strike them, if we don’t demilitarize Yehudah and Shomron, it will hit us more powerfully than the events of October 7.”

“Israel cannot afford to fall into another conceptual coma. We must act immediately: launch a relentless war in the  Palestinian cities, dismantle the PA’s security forces, and disarm all of Yehudah and Shomron.”

Right-wing activist Elisha Yered wrote about the PA security forces: “Take the training they receive in Pakistan and other countries (which I revealed here in the past), add the dozens of armored vehicles they have along with their public support of terror – and understand what could happen here in the next massacre, chalilah.”

The head of the Shomron Regional Council, Yossi Dagan, said: “I demand that the defense minister and prime minister immediately launch a ground operation in Jenin, similar to the operations in Gaza and the north, to prevent a repeat of the October 7 scenes in Yehudah and Shomron and central Israel.”

“It’s no coincidence that Jenin has become the capital of terror. If the terrorists feel confident enough to brandish RPGs and heavy weapons, it means they’re testing us. We must respond with an iron fist to stop this threat to the Shomron—and from Shomron to the cities of central Israel.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)