IDF, Shin Bet and cops arrest dozens of Palestinians in raids

Over the past few nights, Israeli security forces have arrested dozens of Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, the majority for rock throwing and taking part in riots, but some for the production and distribution of illegal weapons, officials said.

In total, police arrested 39 people in East Jerusalem’s Shuafat refugee camp; the Israel Defense Forces picked up 25 Palestinians in early-morning raids on Tuesday and Wednesday; and Shin Bet security service agents arrested five men this week, the agency revealed Tuesday.

The five suspects picked up by the Shin Bet were part of a larger effort by Israel’s security forces to crack down on the manufacturing and sale of illicit weapons, the service said.

The five men are residents of Hebron and Yattir, a small village within Israel. During the arrest raids, the suspects “surrendered a variety of weapons, including homemade guns, M-16 assault rifle components, a large amount of ammunition, a pipe bomb and knives,” the Shin Bet said.

A drill press, believed to have been used to create guns, was also confiscated, along with NIS 150,000 ($40,000) in cash that was allegedly earned in weapons sales, the agency said Tuesday.

However, there was “no direct connection” between the weapons found or the alleged gun dealers arrested and any recent terror attacks, the Shin Bet told The Times of Israel.

In a separate raid early Wednesday morning, the army shut down a workshop in Hebron that was also believed to have been used to create illicit guns, the IDF said in a statement.

Over the past few months, the IDF, Shin Bet and police have been increasingly working on the issue of illegal guns, both the local manufacture of Carlo-style firearms, which are somewhat based on the design of the Carl Gustav submachine guns, and the trade of commercially produced pistols and rifles, officials have said.

In addition to the gun raids, the IDF also arrested six alleged members of Palestinian terrorist groups on Tuesday and Wednesday, five of them from Hamas and one from the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the army said.

The remaining 19 people arrested were picked up for taking part in violent protests against security forces and so-called “popular terrorism,” a term that usually refers to throwing rocks, glass bottles full of paint or Molotov cocktails, the IDF said.

The largest number of arrestees over the past few days has come from East Jerusalem, where police arrested 39 residents for a variety of alleged crimes, including connections to terror and criminal activity, police said.

There too police found “improvised weapons, different types of ammunition, marbles [for slingshots], gun sights, gun components, bulletproof vests, pyrotechnic equipment, knives, burglary tools and incitement materials,” a spokesperson said.

“The police are investing large amounts of resources to prevent the proliferation and creation of improvised weapons in order to preserve the safety of residents, with an emphasis on preventing stray bullets from spilling over to the northern neighborhoods of the city,” police said.

Last week, the IDF and police also arrested some 46 Palestinians on similar charges.

Security officials fear the upcoming Jewish holidays and the recently ended Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha could be behind recently raised tensions in the capital and in the West Bank.

The holiday and the month of September “are always more susceptible to spikes in violent Palestinian activities,” a military official, speaking anonymously, said earlier this month. “The motivation and inspiration to carry out attacks against Israelis remains strong.”