Israelis with gun licenses should carry arms

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All of Israel’s security wings – the Shin Bet, the IDF, Israel Police – have significantly increased their intelligence operations to reach attackers before they carry out attacks, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett announced in a broadcast message late Wednesday evening.

“From my end, there is no limit to the resources that we can dedicate to this,” said Bennett.

Israel Police has switched to emergency format and will receive backup from the IDF. Separately, the IDF has increased its presence in the West Bank ahead of Ramadan and as calls come to limit or even close off entry by Palestinians to sovereign Israel.

The man who killed five people in a terror attack in Bnei Brak on Tuesday is Dia Hamarsha, 27, from the village of Ya’bad in the northern West Bank near Jenin. His has already been mapped for destruction.

Bennett also announced that any soldiers with elementary combat training (basic training level 03 and above) will take their weapons home with them on weekends.

What can Israel’s citizens expect? “Be alert. Whoever has a weapons license, this is the time to carry it,” he said.

In a video statement released earlier after the Bnei Brak attack, Bennett said that Israel is “currently facing a new wave of terrorism.”

“After a period of quiet, there is a violent eruption by those who want to destroy us, those who want to hurt us at any price, whose hatred of Jews, of the State of Israel, drives them crazy,” Bennett said in a short video address Wednesday morning.

“They are prepared to die – so that we will not live in peace,” he added.
Israel has already pushed to thwart what it feared would be outbreaks of Palestinian violence, similar to what sparked a Gaza war last May and a wave of ethnic Jewish-Arab riots within sovereign Israel.

“What we witnessed less than a year ago in Operation Guardians of the Walls, the terrorism and the violence, from within Israel and inside Israel, was the first sign,” Bennett said.

“This is a great and complex challenge for the IDF, the ISA and the Israel Police that requires the security establishment to be creative and for us to adapt ourselves to the new threat and read the tell-tale signs of lone individuals, sometimes without organizational affiliation, and to be in control on the ground in order to thwart terrorism even before it happens,” he explained.

“The security forces of the State of Israel are the best in the world. They are up to the task and, as in the previous waves, we will prevail this time as well,” he added.

He sent his condolences to the families of the victims, wished a speedy recovery to the wounded and thanked the civilians and police officers who helped end the attacks for their heroism.

Source: https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/article-702754