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Security cabinet adopts new measures following West Bank shooting
Israel’s security cabinet adopted a series of new measures on Saturday night, intended to help combat terror, especially in the Hebron region.
The meeting took place after a drive-by shooting in the West Bank on Friday, which killed a father of ten.
Rabbi Michael Mark was the head of a local religious seminary in the West Bank community of Otniel. Shots were fired from a car on Route 60 as Mark was driving, forcing him off the road, where the car overturned. 48-year-old Mark was killed in the attack, while his wife and two of his children who were also in the car were injured. On Saturday, the IDF arrested several suspects in the Hebron area. The deadly shooting came just a day after 13-year-old Hallel Yaffa Ariel was stabbed to death in her bed in nearby Kiryat Arba.
Israel’s President Reuven Rivlin eulogised Rabbi Mark at his funeral yesterday. Rivlin called Mark a “righteous and modest man” and vowed that “we will continue to fight terrorism without fear”.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened the security cabinet to discuss the attacks and to agree steps moving forward. They decided to impose a closure on Hebron, which has been an epicentre of violence since a wave of attacks began last October, killing at least 39 people. Work and travel permits were also revoked for 2,700 Palestinian residents of Bani Naim, east of Hebron, the home of Ariel’s murderer.
The security cabinet also resolved to reduce tax payments it collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority (PA), by the same amount the PA awards to the families of terrorists killed attacking Israelis. A statement from the Prime Minister’s Office said: “Incitement and pay-outs to terrorists and their relatives constitute an incentive to murder.”
Meanwhile, in a separate weekend security development, a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip hit an early childhood centre in the southern Israeli town of Sderot on Friday night. Nobody was hurt, but buildings were damaged. Israel’s Air Force subsequently struck four strategic Hamas sites in Gaza.