Monitoring Desk
JERUSALEM: The security cabinet of Israel has approved measures/laws to make it easier for Israelis to carry weapons after two incidents in Jerusalem over the past two days.
The attacks took place after the Israeli army raided in the occupied West Bank that killed nine people.
According to Arab News, the new measures also suggest depriving attacker’s family members of residency and rights for social security. The Israeli cabinet is due to consider the measures on Sunday (today).
PM Benjamin Netanyahu had promised a “strong” and “swift” response ahead of the security cabinet meeting. The Israel’s army also said it would be reinforcing number of troops in the occupied West Bank. “When civilians have guns, they can defend themselves,” Itamar Ben-Gvir, the controversial far-right National Security Minister told reporters outside a hospital in Jerusalem.
Laws in step with proposals from far-right political allies
The proposals are in line with proposals from Netanyahu’s far-right political allies, who allowed him to return to power last month. The decision was taken after Israeli police said a 13-year-old Palestinian boy was behind a shooting in Jerusalem’s Silwan neighbourhood on Saturday that left an Israeli father and son seriously injured.
In a separate incident of shooting on Friday at a synagogue in East Jerusalem, seven people were killed and at least three were injured as they gathered for the prayers at the start of the Jewish Sabbath. According to the officials, the gunman was shot dead at the scene. The man behind the synagogue attack was identified by local media as a Palestinian from East Jerusalem. Police arrested 42 people in connection with the attack.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas had suspended its security cooperation arrangements with Israel after raid in Jenin on Thursday. Friday’s synagogue shooting happened on the Holocaust Memorial Day, which commemorates the 6m Jews and others who were killed in the Holocaust by the Nazi regime in Germany.
Antonio Guterres, United Nations Secretary-General was “deeply worried about the current escalation of violence in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory”, according to a spokesperson. “This is the moment to exercise utmost restraint,” said UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric.
On Saturday, the EU expressed alarm at the heightened tensions and urged Israel to use lethal force only as a last resort. Palestinians claim East Jerusalem as the future capital of a hoped-for independent state for the Muslims.
