Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee at a meeting on Monday that the IDF is prepared to deal with an escalation in the current wave of terror.
“We haven’t seen any changes in the wave of terrorism,” Ya’alon said in remarks at the opening of the meeting. “It is mostly attacks by individuals. [But] the wave of terror is not subsiding, nor is it being curbed in any way.” He added that the IDF is prepared for an escalation in attacks.
Ya’alon repeated the remarks later in the day when visiting the IDF Induction Center at Tel Hashomer to mark the November draft, noting that there is “hardly a day without a terror attack.”
He went even farther at this briefing, telling reporters that he hoped “the Palestinian Authority gets a grip on itself.” The Defense Minister said he also hoped the PA would go beyond its recent steps of “controlling rioting on the ground, and start condemning the attacks, and cease the blood libels according to which we allegedly are executing those we kill with a knife in their hands, and [instead] they claim we plant the knife afterwards.”
Ya’alon underlined his concern about the PA government’s incitement, and support for Arab media incitement to carry out terror attacks. That incitement, he said, is continuing despite condemnation by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and others.
“I hope they start condemning these attacks. It threatens [the PA] and the survivability of the [Palestinian] Authority more than it does us.
“In the meantime, we are continuing to take many steps,” he added. “Our beefed-up forces are working day and night: carrying out arrests in certain areas and when an attack occurs, the place where it came from is closed, [whether it be a] village or neighborhood. Homes are prepared for demolition.”