BICOM

The head of the Shin Bet told a Knesset committee yesterday that the security service prevented dozens of attacks in Israel last year.

Chief Nadav Argaman, giving an annual strategic overview, said that the Shin Bet thwarted 16 suicide bombings and 16 attempted kidnappings in 2016.

In addition, it stopped 184 shootings, plus 84 other attempted attacks, mainly stabbings and vehicle ramming. These figures cover only the work of the Shin Bet and do not include attacks prevented by the IDF, Israel Police or other Israeli security forces.

He told the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee: “The relative calm that we are experiencing at this time is quite deceiving, it’s misleading and deluding because Hamas and global jihadi infrastructure are working every day in attempting to conduct terrorist attacks in Israeli territory.”

He added: “We are engaged day and night in thwarting attacks. We have stopped more than 400 potential hazards before they materialised into terrorist attacks.”

Argaman highlighted that for the first time in 30 years, no Israelis had been killed due to terror attacks emanating from the Gaza Strip.

However, Argaman said that as a result of the relative calm around Gaza since Operation Protective Edge in 2014 Hamas had “significantly increased its efforts to advance terror attacks in the West Bank and Israel”.

He added that “Hamas has found itself in strategic distress and is interested in undermining the security situation in the West Bank through bombings”.

Warning that attempted attacks are likely over the upcoming Passover holiday, Argaman said “our goal is to ensure that the holidays are as quiet as possible”.

Argaman also claimed that the Palestinian Authority (PA) is still carefully assessing the policies and outlook of US President Donald Trump’s administration.

However, he said that young West Bank Palestinians see violence as a “legitimate means of effecting change in the arena,” although they understand there is a cost for such violence.