Minister warns Jerusalem violence may persist
Aharonovitch applauds police action to kill knife-wielding assailants in weekend spate of attacks, warns of ‘lone wolves’ who can’t be stopped
Judah Ari Gross is The Times of Israel's religions and Diaspora affairs correspondent.
After a weekend that saw an uptick in nationalistic attacks in Jerusalem and the West Bank, Israel’s top public security official warned the violence could continue and counseled those faced with threats to shoot to kill assailants.
Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch told reporters Sunday the correct response to stabbing attacks is “to eliminate the terrorist on the spot.”
The minister spoke at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem, where he visited the Border Police officers injured in this weekend’s stabbing attack in Hebron and car-ramming attack in Jerusalem.
In addition to the successful attacks, overnight Friday-Saturday a 16-year-old Palestinian resident of East Jerusalem allegedly attempted to stab an Israeli soldier with a butcher’s knife, according to security officials.
The soldier was not injured in the stabbing attempt.
In both stabbing attacks, the alleged assailants were shot and killed by security personnel.
“We are seeing an increase in the wave of terror attacks,” Aharonovitch said. “The response of the Border Police officers was the correct action.”
Aharonovitch predicted the string of terror attacks in the nation’s capital will continue.
“From my experience, it seems there will be more attacks and attempts,” Aharonovitch said. “The job of the police is to prevent them, and if not — then act as the officers did in these latest events.
“It’s impossible to stop a lone wolf,” he added. “The terrorists that carried out these recent attacks have not been affiliated with specific terror organizations.”
The rash of attacks came after several months of relative calm in the capital, which was rocked late last year by a string of terror attacks and persistent low-level violence.
