In the evening hours of May 5, two Palestinian terrorists shouting Allahu Akbar axed to death three Israeli men and wounded four others in the town of Elad. Police launched a massive manhunt to capture the attackers, whom it identified as As’ad Alrafa’ani, 19, and Sabhi abu Shakir, 20, both from the West Bank town of Jenin, a perennial hotbed of anti-Israel activity.

The horrifying killing spree could have strategic repercussions. Events of this kind have in the past marked watershed moments resulting in deep policy shifts. Such was the case when a suicide bomber entered the Park Hotel in the coastal town of Netanya in 2002 during a Passover celebration, blew himself up and killed 30 people. The attack and resulting shockwaves prompted then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to abandon a policy of relative restraint vis-a-vis Palestinian terrorism and order a massive military sweep of West Bank towns and refugee camps to rout out terrorist infrastructure. The operation, dubbed “Defensive Shield,” was considered to have effectively restored security to Israeli towns and villages.

Fast forward 20 years. The prime minister is Naftali Bennett, not Ariel Sharon, and the attack in the town of Elad east of Tel Aviv was far less lethal. In themselves, such numbers are hardly game changers. Israel has known far worse. But the Elad attack follows four other deadly terrorist attacks on Israeli urban centers and one deadly attack in the West Bank settlement of Ariel since late March, which claimed the lives of 15 people. The repercussions of these cumulative attacks are potentially wide-ranging, for three reasons.

First, the attack in the Elad town center occurred on Israel’s national holiday, Independence Day, amplifying its symbolic significance. Given the stringent security precautions on religious and national holidays, terrorism on Independence Day has not occurred in recent memory. The assailants took advantage of the celebrations that bring out hundreds of thousands of Israelis to city and national parks to mark the day with barbecues and parties. Elad lies just 3 kilometers (2 miles) from the West Bank, but the number of licensed gun holders who might have stopped the attackers is limited by the fact that many residents are ultra-Orthodox and do not serve in the military or security forces.