After terror attack, IDF mulls new army division for Jordanian border

Making one command responsible for the entire Jordanian-Israeli border could enable a comprehensive view of the potential threats to the region.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

Following Sunday’s terror attack in the Jordan Valley, Army Radio reported Monday that the IDF is mulling the establishment of a new division to protect the region, with a decision likely in the coming days.

The division would have a large area of responsibility, stretching for hundreds of kilometers along the Jordanian-Israeli border from Beit Shean in the north to the Ramon Airport area some 22 kilometers north of Eilat, the report said.

Today this stretch is divided between the southern and central IDF Commands.

The thinking behind the change is that a single division would be able to look at the border as a whole and deal with threats emanating from the region more comprehensively.

The report noted that the security authorities have a “real fear of destabilization” along the border, fomented primarily by Iran.

The Islamic republic is also constantly trying to smuggle in advanced weapons from Jordan to the Valley and the rest of Judea and Samaria, and form more armed militias under its control, with the goal of presenting Israel with an ever-more concrete threat of a third front much closer to the country’s heartland than Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

The IDF has operated heavily in Judea and Samaria since October 7th, going on constant arrest raids and battling terrorists from the Palestinian Authority’s Fatah group as well as the Iranian-backed Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas terror groups.

Last week, the IDF announced that it had thwarted an attack Monday against its forces near the settlement of Beka’ot in the Jordan Valley.

Terrorists shot at the community in an attempt to draw out soldiers to an ambush. One terrorist was eliminated in the incident, and soldiers conducted scans of the surrounding area to ensure the residents’ safety.

They found and destroyed four explosive devices as well as additional electronic devices that had been hidden nearby.

IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi is expected decide about the new division over the coming days.

The idea has gained extra urgency following Sunday’s terror attack near the Mehola Junction, when an unknown number of terrorists shot at several cars as they drove on Route 90.

Yehonatan Deutsch, 23, was murdered in one car, and a 33-year-old man was moderately wounded in another. A Magen David Adom crew tended to both.

The medics evacuated the wounded man by helicopter to hospital, but were forced to declare Deutsch dead on the scene after resuscitation attempts failed.

Deutsch had just been released a few weeks ago from his army service in the elite Maglan unit. He had fought in Kibbutz Nachal Oz when the Hamas terrorists invaded on October 7th, and battled in Gaza for months, including in Rafah.

He was on his way to a job interview as a youth counselor when he was murdered, having been an active volunteer in youth groups when attending a religious high school in Beit Shean.

He was also going to visit his fiancé, Emunah, whom he was planning to marry in just several weeks’ time.

“He was a man of the people and of joy, he loved the country and the nation incredibly,” his grieving father Uri told Kan News.

He was active in a project called “Tikvateinu” (Our Hope) that tries to connect the various sectors of the country, Uri said, and “he dreamed of establishing a movement and influencing Israeli society.”

IDFIran terrorJordan ValleyJordan Valley attackJudea and Samaria