Status: 01/29/2023 03:02 a.m
After the recent attacks in Jerusalem, Israel’s security cabinet decided on new counter-terrorism measures. This is intended to strengthen Israeli settlements and make it easier for civilians to obtain gun licenses in the future.
After two attacks in East Jerusalem that left seven dead and several injured, Israel’s security cabinet decided on new counterterrorism measures late on Saturday evening.
- Israeli citizens should be able to obtain firearms licenses more easily and quickly, according to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office. How exactly the facilitation for the purchase of weapons should look like has not yet been announced.
- It was also agreed that relatives of assassins who support terrorism would be deprived of their social security and health benefits. Whether and how exactly this should be checked has so far also remained open.
- It was also decided that the army and police should collect illegal weapons in a targeted manner.
- And: Israeli “settlements are to be strengthened”. Further steps towards this would be published in more detail at a later date.
Netanyahu government under pressure
Prime Minister Netanyahu had announced decisive action after two attacks within 24 hours. His ultra-right government is in conflict for a tough course, he said ARD correspondent Sophie von der Tann. She defines herself through security and is now under pressure to a certain extent.
how from the fir tree further reported that troops have already been reinforced in the West Bank and along the separation barriers separating Israel and the West Bank. “The far-right new Minister for National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, was at the scene and again demanded that more citizens should be able to carry weapons to protect themselves from such attacks.”
How the population feels about such proposals depends very much on who you ask. This requirement has often existed, more often in extreme situations. Many people are currently afraid of a further escalation of the situation.
Tense situation in Israel after attacks
Sophie von der Tann, ARD Tel Aviv, daily topics 11:25 p.m., January 28, 2023
Two attacks in 24 hours
On Saturday, a 13-year-old man shot and wounded two men in an attack on settlers in the East Jerusalem district of Silwan. Armed passers-by shot the boy, who was then given medical attention. Media reported that he was Palestinian.
On Friday, an attacker opened fire on visitors to a synagogue in east Jerusalem. Seven people were killed and several injured. According to the police, the alleged assassin was shot while trying to escape. He is believed to be a 21-year-old Palestinian living in East Jerusalem. According to the latest findings, the man had no terrorist past, although – according to Israeli media reports – he is said to have sympathized with the radical Islamic Hamas ruling in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack. It was a “retaliatory strike for the Israeli army’s attack on the Jenin refugee camp.” On Thursday, nine Palestinians, including an elderly woman, were killed in an Israeli military operation in Jenin in the northern West Bank.
ARD correspondent von der Tann reports: “The situation in the West Bank is very tense. The Israeli military has been conducting operations there for months. There are battles and many deaths.” At the same time, the Palestinian Authority is losing control. “More radical groups are gaining influence, especially among young Palestinians who see no prospects for themselves, become radicalized and become violent.”
More than 600,000 Israeli settlers in the West Bank
Israel conquered the West Bank and East Jerusalem in 1967. In total, more than 600,000 Israeli settlers live there today. The Palestinians claim the territories for an independent state of Palestine with the Arab-influenced eastern part of Jerusalem as the capital.
Israel’s settlement policy is very controversial. At the end of 2016, the UN Security Council called on Israel to completely stop settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, including the annexed East Jerusalem. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is also considered a critic of the settlement policy. He will meet the Israeli and Palestinian sides on Monday and Tuesday.