Defense Minister: Israel thwarts 20-30 terrorist attacks each week

During a tour of Hebron, Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman praised security forces for protecting Israeli citizens and historical sites in the holy city.

By: Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman toured the Jewish part of Hebron on Tuesday along with top IDF brass. He singled out the army’s success in thwarting “20-30 terrorist attacks each week,” particularly in and around the city of Hebron.

Hebron contains the Cave of the Patriarchs, which is religiously significant to both Jews and Muslims. Palestinians regularly attempt to smuggle knives or guns in to launch attacks there, and it is guarded around the clock by the IDF.

Liberman inspected the various defense installations in Jewish Hebron along with IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot, Yoav Mordechai, the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories and outgoing head of Central Command Major General Roni Numa. He especially thanked Numa for his work.

“Roni, with determination, methodology, and a lot of creativity and cleverness, the Central Command under your leadership successfully contained, almost completely, the wave of terrorism and knife attacks and maintained stability in a difficult situation,” he said.

The defense minister also extolled the “quality intelligence and a combination of smart deployment of forces and advanced technology” for contributing to the success of the anti-terror operations.

It should be noted that security forces, including the Shin Bet intelligence agency, IDF and police, carry out near-nightly raids in Arab towns and villages to find guns, bombs and other weaponry.

In 2017 alone, 42 illegal weapons workshops were closed and 455 illegal weapons were seized in Judea and Samaria, according to the IDF. In a year-end summary at the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Shin Bet head Nadav Argaman said that the agency had prevented 400 attacks, including 13 suicide bombings.

Thousands of attacks – including 1,100 potential lone-wolf assaults – have also reportedly been thwarted due to intelligence gathering that includes augmented monitoring of social media, and arresting people who express a desire to set out on attacks or attempt to inspire others to do so.