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Netanyahu says Israel will act ‘to maintain the quiet’

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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged that Israel would act ‘vigorously, responsibly and prudently to preserve the quiet and security that have prevailed here over the past two years.’ Netanyahu spoke to reporters yesterday evening, shortly before boarding a plane to Russia, on a day which saw a British woman killed and 39 people wounded in a terror attack in Jerusalem, and the firing of two Grad rockets on Beersheva, injuring one man.

Whilst Netanyahu indicated that Israel will respond to recent terrorist attacks forcefully, his statement also appeared to be sending a message that his preference is a swift return to the situation of calm, rather than a military escalation. Netanyahu will try to calculate Israel’s response to the rocket attacks in southern Israel so as to maintain deterrence without triggering a further escalation. Senior political journalist Shimon Shiffer, writing in this morning’s Yediot Ahronot, assessed that, ‘The prime minister and defence minister will continue to issue stern statements to the media, and will instruct the army to conduct itself cautiously and with restraint, so as not to get sucked into an all-out war in the Gaza Strip.’

Some Israeli Cabinet members, including vice premier Silvan Shalom, appear to be calling for of a new, wide-ranging IDF operation into the Gaza Strip. However, Netanyahu’s remarks yesterday seemed to indicate that he favours a measured response at this time.

There are indications that the Hamas leadership in Gaza also does not want a major escalation. According to a report in Haaretz today, Hamas’s Gaza Prime Minister called Islamic Jihad leader Ramadan Abdullah in Damascus, to ask him to stop the escalation, in which Islamic Jihad has played a dominant role.