Netanyahu: Palestinian Attacks Have Decreased Significantly

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that the violence over the past six months, which manifested as street attacks against Israeli soldiers and civilians, has decreased "significantly." According to Israeli media, Netanyahu made these remarks on Sunday, April 22, during a cabinet meeting in Jerusalem. He attributed the reduction in violence to the "effective measures and decisiveness of the security forces" in dealing with Palestinians. However, Netanyahu also noted that "the situation is fluid and a new crisis could arise at any moment." In the recent six months of violence, 29 Israelis and several foreigners have been killed. Israeli soldiers and armed civilians have also killed over two hundred Palestinians during this period, with more than 130 of them being attackers and seventy Palestinians killed in protests in the West Bank and several others in demonstrations near the Gaza border by Israeli military fire. The violence during this period mostly occurred through surprise knife attacks on buses, sidewalks, and shops, targeting passersby and soldiers, but there were also car attacks and several instances of gun use. Most attacks on civilians occurred in Jerusalem, while most attacks on soldiers happened in Hebron; the highest number of Arab casualties were from Palestinian attackers in Hebron. The "Knife Intifada" or "Al-Quds Intifada" began due to Palestinian anger over extremist Jewish entry into the Al-Aqsa Mosque but spread to other areas as the crisis over Al-Aqsa subsided. Meanwhile, Netanyahu claimed on Sunday that Sheikh Raed Salah is "once again inciting" regarding the "Holy Temple" to reignite unrest ahead of the Passover holiday. According to Netanyahu, "Sheikh Salah, who is a ticking time bomb, should have been imprisoned long ago." Raed Salah is a Palestinian cleric and founder of the "Islamic Movement in Palestine" from the Arab territories of 1948, who has previously been tried in an Israeli court for "incitement" regarding Al-Aqsa. Sheikh Salah was sentenced to eleven months in prison in 2015 for statements and demonstrations he made regarding Al-Aqsa in 2007, but he has appealed the verdict. Netanyahu called on the Israeli judiciary on Sunday to issue necessary orders to keep Sheikh Salah away from Al-Aqsa in the coming weeks. The Islamic Movement in Palestine responded on Sunday by accusing Netanyahu of inciting tensions, stating, "Netanyahu is creating the groundwork for a new crisis by insisting on the repeated visits of extremists like Yehuda Glick to Al-Aqsa under the pretext of Jewish holidays." According to the Jerusalem Post, the intention of extremist Jews to enter Al-Aqsa on the night of Passover has raised new concerns among security forces about escalating tensions. Passover, which falls on April 22, is eleven days away. A minority of Jews believe that during specific religious ceremonies, they should visit the "Temple Mount," which was the site of the "Temple of Solomon," where Al-Aqsa was later built. Meanwhile, many Jewish clerics, including Iranian Jewish clerics, do not accept the entry of Jews to this site, deeming it provocative and a source of evil. The Islamic Movement in Palestine claims that Israel intends to destroy Al-Aqsa; Israel states that this "false propaganda" is the main factor behind the "brainwashing" of Palestinians during the recent crisis. King Abdullah II of Jordan, who is the custodian of Al-Aqsa, proposed last November to install cameras for permanent monitoring of the situation at Al-Aqsa; Israel accepted this proposal to "determine who the perpetrators of violence are." Six months after the agreement, brokered by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, the surveillance cameras have yet to be installed at Al-Aqsa. In his latest statement on Sunday, Sheikh Raed Salah wrote that Israel's "dictation" to Jordan regarding the installation of cameras at Al-Aqsa prevents worshippers from going to the sanctuary at night, which he described as a dangerous innovation. Sheikh Salah added, "However, no laws in the world will prevent worshippers from praying at night in Al-Aqsa."