Shin Bet chief: Over 200 ‘significant’ terror attacks foiled so far this year
Ronen Bar says Israel in ‘a challenging time, both at home and abroad,’ as Netanyahu vows ‘eventually we will get to every terrorist’
Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar on Tuesday said that security forces have foiled more than 200 terror attacks since the start of 2023.
Speaking at a pre-Passover toast alongside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Bar said that “only three months have passed, and this year more than 200 significant attacks have been thwarted, including about 150 shooting attacks, 20 bomb attacks, rammings, kidnappings and others.”
According to Bar, an elite unit that he described as “the last answer” to preventing impending attacks has been called up 14 times so far in 2023.
Bar also said that Israel is facing “a challenging time, both at home and abroad,” in a possible reference to the highly contentious debate surrounding the judicial overhaul.
Netanyahu vowed that “eventually we will get to every terrorist” and said “Iran is responsible for 95% of the security threats against us.”
“Those who come to harm us should know they will have their blood on their own head,” the premier said.
Tensions have spiked in the region over the past year as Israeli forces have ratcheted up arrest raids and other counterterror efforts in the West Bank following a series of terror attacks.
Palestinian terror attacks in Israel and the West Bank in recent months have left 15 Israelis dead and several more seriously hurt.
At least 86 Palestinians have been killed since the beginning of the year, most of them while carrying out attacks or during clashes with security forces, though some were uninvolved civilians and others were killed under circumstances that are being investigated.
There has also been a rise in settler violence toward Palestinians in recent months.
The Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which began last week and will end April 21, often sees elevated Israeli-Palestinian tensions, with frictions already high this year in Jerusalem and across the West Bank following months of deadly violence.
