MKs from both left and right on Monday said that regardless of politics, some radical change is needed in Israel’s response to the ongoing stabbing terror attacks throughout the country.
“The wave of terror is getting worse,” said Zionist Union MK Eyal Ben Reuven. “We are coming close to the point where we will have no choice but to go out on a serious and wide-ranging campaign to make it clear to the Palestinian leadership what the price of terrorism is.”
Ben-Reuven, a former IDF general, spoke after the third terror attack the country experienced Monday, and the most fatal. One Israeli was murdered in a stabbing attack on Road 443 Monday afternoon, while a second was injured. Just minutes before, a would-be terror attack was thwarted by attentive soldiers at Brigade Square in Samaria – the same place where just a day before, yet another terrorist attempted to stab Israelis, but was prevented from doing so when former Samaria Regional Council head Gershon Mesika plowed his car into her. Soldiers on duty then shot her, neutralizing her on-site.
Earlier Monday, two female Arab terrorists aged 14 and 16 conducted a stabbing attack on Yafo Street adjacent to Jerusalem’s iconic outdoor Mahane Yehuda market, a centrally located site that attracts hundreds of Israelis and tourists alike. The terrorists left two civilians wounded before being neutralized by gunfire from security forces, with the fire killing one of them – ironically the victim they chose in their stabbing was a 70-year-old Arab resident of Bethlehem, who they apparently mistook for a Jew.
“We must make it clear to the Palestinians that Israel will not tolerate this terrorism,” said Ben Reuven. “It is up to them to spit out the terrorists from within their midst. I am fully reliant on the security establishment to know how, when, and where to act,” he added.
From the other side of the aisle, Deputy Defense Minister Eli Ben-Dahan (Jewish Home) also demanded action. “We are facing one attack after another,” he said. “We must force the will of terrorists, making them decide that it is not worth going out of their house to harm civilians and soldiers. I reiterate that only demolition of terrorists’ homes at the time that a terror attack is conducted, and sending the whole family out of the country, will prevent the next attack.”
