Impossible to ‘follow every step’ of terrorists released from prison, Israeli minister says

“Even if people were arrested at another stage in their lives, you’re not in a position to follow every step of them in the years after,” Diaspora Minister Nachman Shai told ILTV.

By Adina Katz, World Israel News

Merely hours before the latest terror attack in Israel Tuesday evening that left five people dead in the city of B’nei Brak, just east of Tel Aviv, Minister of Diaspora Affairs Nachman Shai of the Labor Party discussed with ILTV how the country could prevent such massacres.

“We never know what does it mean [to be] properly prepared. We have to do our best that the last two massacres will not repeat itself – the one in Beersheba and the one Hadera,” he said.

He was referring to the shooting attack in Beersheba last Tuesday that claimed four civilian lives and the one in Hadera Sunday evening in which two 19-year-old Border Police were killed. The B’nei Brak attack was the third within a week.

“The Shabak [Israeli Security Agency], Border Police, IDF must work together to see if they can foil any attacks and look for other ways to calm the situation before it erupts uncontrollably in the next few days, especially during Ramadan,” Shai said.

The Shabak admitted that the Beersheba and Hadera attacks could have been prevented, as the terrorists had served time in prison, the interviewer pointed out.

“Even if people were arrested at another stage in their lives, you’re not in a position to follow every step of them in the years after,” Shai replied.

“You should know that hundreds of people, if not thousands, were arrested some time in the past, and now they go back to their so-called normal life. And if they continue to plan and to pursue terror, that we can find only later,” he said. “Even the Shabak has some limits for what they can do.”

The Beersheba and Hadera terrorists were Israeli citizens; the terrorist who massacred people in B’nei Brak was a Palestinian Arab working illegally in the country.

Regarding Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked’s aim to strip terrorists of their Israeli citizenship, Shai said, “It was discussed in the past, but it’s not simple…  We have no idea if it’s legal. If it’s not legal, we should look at other ways to deter terrorists.”

Asked about home demolitions, he said, “These are not new ideas… I’m much more radical than you’d guess… I will side with every step taken by the government, by the police, by government ministries to block terrorists in Israel, but the question is whether it’s legal, whether it’s possible.”

Shai also discussed Iran, saying the Islamic regime has to be stopped from attaining nuclear weapons, “not just for the sake of Israel but for the world.”

The IRGC, Iran’s military, must not be taken off the U.S. terror list, he added.

Concluding the interview with the role of the Diaspora Ministry regarding the Ukrainian crisis, Shai said, “We have been helping the Ukrainian Jewish community even before the crisis together with Chabad,” and Israel will continue assisting Jews in Ukraine and in all the countries in that region that are absorbing refugees.

“We care not only for Jewish refugees, but for every refugee,” he stressed. “We have to care for every human being who is now forced to leave Ukraine and is looking for temporary shelter… This is our commitment to the world.”

The same care must be extended to the Jews of Ethiopia, he said.