Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, advocated this Saturday for granting more weapons licenses for civilians after a weekend marked by three armed attacks that left seven dead and five wounded, but at the same time asked the Israelis not to do justice for his own hand.
At the beginning of a meeting with his Security cabinet, the right-wing Netanyahu assured that he will present a series of “additional measures in the fight against terrorism, which include significantly accelerating and expediting the granting of weapons licenses for authorized civilians.”
The Israeli Security Cabinet announced a series of measures against the Palestinians this morning, in response to a series of attacks this weekend, including the revocation of benefits for the families of attackers and a plan to deport them and expedite weapons licences. for civilians.
The cabinet decisions follow a major attack on an Israeli settlement in occupied east Jerusalem on Friday night, killing seven Israelis and marking the deadliest Palestinian attack since 2008.
“The Security Cabinet made a series of decisions to combat terrorism and make terrorists and their supporters pay a price for it,” the office of conservative Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement.
The cabinet announced six measures, including “revoking the rights to social security and additional benefits for family members of terrorists who support terrorism” and “streamlining and expanding firearms licensing” for civilians.
In addition, the statement announced a plan to “legislate the revocation of the Israeli identity documents of the families of terrorists who support terrorism”, an initiative that had already been promoted by the far-right members of the Executive and which is expected to be discussed this Sunday. at the government cabinet meeting.
While the details of such a proposal have not yet been released, the measure would apply to those Palestinians living in occupied east Jerusalem with Israeli residency permits who would be forced to settle in the occupied West Bank.
The remaining measures announced by the cabinet were the decision to demolish as soon as possible the family residence of the Palestinian responsible for the attack on Friday -who died shortly after by police shots-, the reinforcement of both military and police troops in different places and the “strengthening” of Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
The attack on Friday night took place outside a synagogue in the Neve Yaakov settlement in occupied East Jerusalem, and was followed by another shooting attack on Saturday morning, also in the eastern part of the city. Holy City and in which two Israelis were wounded.
On the other hand, a Palestinian opened fire last night against a restaurant in a Jewish settlement in the West Bank and another was shot dead by settlers while trying to enter the Kedumim colony armed.
These incidents occur in a month of incessant violence in the area and in which 32 Palestinians have already been killed and seven on the Israeli side. This weekend’s surge was triggered by an Israeli military raid on Thursday in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin, which killed nine Palestinians – including several militants – and was followed by rocket fire from the Gaza Strip.
