PM: Today’s counter-terrorism akin to IDF’s major intifada campaign

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday equated his government’s efforts in tackling a six-month surge in Palestinian terror attacks to the IDF’s massive 2002 campaign to quash terrorism during the Second Intifada.

“In 2002,” Netanyahu said at an event in Jerusalem to commemorate Israel’s deceased heads of state, “Arik [then-prime minister Ariel Sharon] decided to embark on Operation Defensive Shield, which received broad public support, to destroy the terror infrastructures in Judea and Samaria,” the traditional Jewish terms for the West Bank.

The Palestinians learned at the time “that we don’t hesitate to penetrate deep into [PA territory] in order to restore security for the citizens of Israel,” he said.

Netanyahu asserted that his government has been acting according to the same principles, “entering everywhere, whenever it’s needed, west of the Jordan [River].”

The last few months have seen a “significant decline” in the number of attacks, including in the number of “significant” attacks, the Shin Bet security service reported to the cabinet at its weekly meeting in Jerusalem on Sunday.

The Shin Bet said figures showed “only” three significant attacks in April, as compared to 20 in March and 78 in October of last year, at the start of the uptick in attacks.

In a statement released by the Prime Minister’s Office, the Shin Bet is quoted attributing the decline to Israeli efforts to foil attacks, along with “effective deterrent action” and “determined activity to counter Palestinian incitement.”

The agency said Israel’s counterterror activity has left the Palestinian public feeling that the “escalation is pointless.”

Netanyahu alluded to the new figures, cautioning that Israelis shouldn’t take the decline in attacks for granted.

“This drop isn’t guaranteed,” he said. “We can anticipate the possibility of severe terror attacks at any moment, but the fact is that we are acting against terror hotbeds, so that the terror we are contending with is mostly terror [carried out by] individuals.”

Raphael Ahren contributed to this report