Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett had good reason to be optimistic on the eve of the Jewish new year, Rosh Hashanah, on Sept. 6. His gamble on the coronavirus vaccine booster proved successful, stemming a fourth wave of the disease and allowing Israelis to celebrate the holiday season free of lockdowns or significant limitations, following three lengthy, draconian closures imposed by the Netanyahu government during previous holidays. The state budget had made it through a preliminary Knesset vote with relative ease. Bennett seemed to have been dealt a pretty good hand. But in the pre-dawn hours of Sept. 6, six Palestinian inmates tunneled their way out of the high-security Gilboa Prison in the Jezre’el Valley, turning the traditional Rosh Hashanah dish of apple dipped in sweet honey into a bitter joke.

Zakaria Zubeidi, the former chief of Palestinian security in the West Bank town of Jenin, along with five members of the Islamic Jihad organization had made a mockery of the Israel Prison Service, the police, the vaunted Shin Bet security agency and the military. Despite a massive manhunt and intense intelligence efforts, the six have not been found. What is worse, the Palestinian public has turned them into folk heroes, setting off clashes and protests from Jenin in the north to the Gaza Strip in the south.

“We are using all the means at our disposal to catch them,” a senior Israeli security source told Al-Monitor, speaking on condition of anonymity. Reporters are being told that Israel has no leads on the location of the escapees. However, anyone familiar with similar events and with the capabilities of the Shin Bet knows this is not necessarily a precise description. The lead could be found at any given moment or has perhaps been found already. Anyone who knows the reach of Israel’s intelligence arms knows it will eventually locate the six, as it has done with almost every terrorist on its wanted list, even if it takes weeks or months.

The question is whether Zubeidi and his mates will be found in the West Bank, making it much easier for Israeli troops and Shin Bet to catch them, or, in a worst-case scenario to shoot them dead while attempting to capture them. Israel is also scouring border areas to see whether the escapees have managed to cross to Jordan or perhaps Lebanon, which would dramatically enhance their prospects of surviving the escape. More importantly, will the escape and ensuing search stir up mass Palestinian support and anger, providing the needed energy for renewed rioting or even a third intifada? After all, the escape has already ignited the imaginations of many Palestinians and is being touted on social media throughout the Middle East.