PM says IDF ‘already implementing’ new measures

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vows to widen efforts to stop terrorism and to curb anti-Israel incitement.

During a visit to the West Bank, the prime minister tells reporters the country’s top security echelon has decided to “significantly increase active protection” on Israel’s streets. “There are very important steps that IDF and security forces are already implementing,” he says.

Netanyahu also speaks of “new technological means” to secure Israeli citizens, acknowledging that this takes time. “I hope to reduce this time,” he promises. “The intention is to use all means available to the State of Israel — it’s a very powerful nation in terms of its army, its security forces and its technology — to significantly increase its security on the streets.”

While he declares safety on Israel’s roads the “main problem,” he also vows to “drastically reduce” terror attacks carried out on pedestrians.

The prime minister also condemns praise for the perpetrators of terror attacks by Palestinians or Israeli Arabs.

During a session of the security cabinet, Netanyahu asks the government’s legal adviser to find ways to punish people who incite against Israel on social media.

“I am not willing to accept that Israeli citizens join in this incitement,” he says. “I can’t accept that in Israeli soccer stadiums in the State of Israel, the flags of the PLO and even Hamas are being waved, and that people spit on policemen. I don’t accept this from Jews, nor from Israeli Arabs – from nobody.”

— Raphael Ahren