The surge in police presence in Jerusalem will continue until the end of October and probably beyond that, according to an assessment by acting police chief Bentzi Sau.
Sau tells reporters that 2,000 cops were added to secure Jerusalem following the hostilities of the past months. In the past three weeks alone, some 240 rioters were arrested, says the top cop, including some held for throwing rocks.
The commander, who is expected to step down soon when Roni Alshaich, formerly deputy head of the Shin Bet security services, takes his place, says that the police are working with limited resources. “We have trouble recruiting people because if a person needs to choose between being a security guard in a government ministry or a cop, he will prefer the ministry where salaries are higher,” he says.
Sau does not term the violence of the last few weeks a third intifada. “I stick by the facts. There is a decline in the number of casualties this year, but I do not ignore the strong feeling in the public, that security is not as it should be,” he says.
Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan (left) speaks with Deputy Police Commissioner Bentzi Sau in Jerusalem on September 7, 2015. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
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