Security situation in Jerusalem points to upcoming 3rd Intifada, warns Israeli lawmaker

Muslims have been rioting at the Damascus Gate almost on a nightly basis over religion-related issues.

By Aryeh Savir, TPS

The Knesset plenum discussed on Wednesday night a proposal presented by Member of Knesset (MK) Avi Maoz of the Religious Zionism party, and MK Ofir Katz of the Likud, on the issue of “the failure to contend with the rock and Molotov cocktails throwers in Judea and Samaria and Jerusalem.”

The MKs warned that the phenomenon of rock terrorism should be addressed as soon as possible and “with a heavy hand.”

Maoz said that while the government claims the police are doing their job, the riots continue.

He said he has received reports of repeated attacks against Israeli residents of the Ma’ale HaZeitim neighborhood in eastern Jerusalem, on the road between the neighborhood and the Kotel (Western Wall).

“Children who went to the Kotel were brutally beaten by Arabs and evacuated to a hospital. Soldiers living in the neighborhood were attacked on Saturday night with curses and beatings. A resident of the neighborhood was attacked by a cyclist and beaten in his face, complaints were filed with the Jerusalem police, and some of the incidents were even recorded on security cameras, and yet, to the best of my knowledge, no indictments were filed, and the detainees who were apprehended were released immediately afterward,” he stated.

According to Maoz, “these events join the regular riots at the Damascus Gate and the so-called ‘Muslim’ quarter, as well as rock attacks in buses on their way to the Western Wall. I live in the area and I know that when the sensors start beeping about such incidents, it means that there is a general heating up, which indicates that another intifada or riots in the style of those we experienced about six months ago are coming ahead,” Maoz warned.

Muslims have been rioting at the Damascus Gate almost on a nightly basis over religion-related issues.

Maoz also referred to data published by the Knesset Research Center. The report clearly states that law enforcement systems and military tribunals do not properly address this dangerous phenomenon.

95% of cases are closed, in less than half of the cases indictments are filed, and a few dozen terrorists have been imprisoned since 2015. The vast majority of imprisonments are a year or less.

“There is no deterrence, no punishment, and no proper treatment. Throwing a stone or Molotov cocktail at a vehicle is an attempted murder for all intents and purposes, and adequate deterrence must be created, especially since the terror of stones and Molotov cocktails continues these days, “Maoz concluded.