Shin Bet: Terror attacks down, but motivation high

Briefing the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Israel’s Security Agency Director Nadav Argaman warned that the motivation among Palestinian terrorist groups to attack remains high although the surge in attacks appears to be fading.

The surge in Palestinian terrorist activity seems to be ebbing, but the number of threats emanating from Judea and Samaria has increased, Shin Bet’s (Israel’s Security Agency) Director Nadav Argaman said on Tuesday.

In his first briefing before the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Argaman warned that the motivation among Palestinian terrorist groups to attack Israeli security forces and civilians remains high, while Hamas makes nonstop attempts to undermine stability in Judea and Samaria.

Argaman said that since the current wave of terrorism erupted last fall, “over 300 significant terrorist attacks and attempted attacks” have taken place, and security forces “foiled 240 significant attacks.”

These numbers do not include Molotov cocktail bombings. Among the 300 were 180 stabbing attacks, more than 90 shootings and 30 vehicular attacks.

The Shin Bet’s data shows that over the past few months there has been a dramatic decrease in the number of terrorist attacks from last fall.

October 2015 saw 600 terrorist attacks, 81 of them classified as major, compared to 103 terrorist attacks in June 2016, of which nine were classified as significant.

Argaman also warned that the “calm on the Gaza Strip border is deceptive.” Hamas is not fully prepared to attack Israel yet and therefore has not done so yet, he explained.

By: JNS.org and World Israel Staff