Israel will make it easier for Israelis to carry weapons
2023.01.29 12:41
Israel will make it easier for Israelis to carry weapons
By Ray Johnson
Budrigannews.com – Two days after a Palestinian gunman killed seven people outside of a synagogue, Israeli police sealed off the gunman’s Jerusalem family home out of concern that the deadly unrest in Jerusalem and the West Bank would get worse.
After the synagogue attack, which killed the most Jews in the Jerusalem area since 2008, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced plans on Sunday to make it easier for Israelis to carry guns. It came a day after the deadliest Israeli military raid in years in Jenin, a city in the West Bank.
Since then, on Saturday in Jerusalem, a Palestinian boy who was 13 years old opened fire on a group of Israeli passersby, injuring two before one of the civilians shot and wounded him. Residents of a Palestinian village in the West Bank outside of Ramallah claimed on Sunday that a group from an adjacent Israeli settlement had set fire to one house and broken the doors and windows of another.
Netanyahu claimed that reducing violence would be accomplished by making it simpler for Israelis to obtain permits to carry guns: We have witnessed repeatedly that brave, trained, and armed civilians save lives.”
The family’s home, where the synagogue shooter lived, had its windows welded shut by Israeli authorities. Even though no one had been killed, the 13-year-old shooter’s family’s home was sealed off under a previous policy changed by Netanyahu’s government.
Revocation of residency rights granted to relatives of Palestinians who carry out attacks and the strengthening of settlements in the occupied West Bank were also announced.
After conducting an assessment of the security situation in the West Bank, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant stated, “We will not hesitate to act against terrorism, but we wish to regain calm and stability on the ground.”
This week, Antony Blinken, Secretary of State for the United States, is scheduled to visit Jerusalem and the West Bank for the first time since Benjamin Netanyahu assumed leadership of a coalition that included members of Israel’s far right. It now appears likely that efforts to stop the violence from spiraling out of control will dominate Blinken’s visit.
Ten people, including two civilians, have been killed since Thursday’s raid in Jenin, including a Palestinian gunman who died on Sunday from injuries. This month’s West Bank clashes with Israeli security forces have resulted in the deaths of at least 34 Palestinian civilians and fighters.
As a result of a string of deadly Palestinian attacks in Israel, the year that followed was the deadliest for Palestinian civilians and militants in the West Bank in more than a decade.
The shooting at the synagogue on Friday poses a challenge to Netanyahu, who returned to power in December as the head of the most right-wing government in Israeli history and pledged to make Israelis safer after Palestinian street attacks in the previous year.
Netanyahu’s government, which was sworn in a month ago, has prioritized the construction of settlements on Palestinian-claimed land for a state, but it has not yet taken significant action. The majority of nations consider Israel’s settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, on land it gained in the 1967 war, to be illegal.
According to Awad Abu Samra, whose brother’s house in the village of Turmus Ayya was damaged on Sunday, Israeli settlers are now “almost every week or so” attacking local farmers.
“They attack anything that is Palestinian property.”
On Saturday, the Israeli military announced that it would be adding troops to the West Bank. Israel, on the other hand, did not immediately indicate that it was preparing for a massive military response to the shooting.
While blaming Israel for the violence on Saturday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has not commented on the attack that occurred on Friday. According to police, the gunman tried to flee the scene and was apparently acting alone when he was shot by officers.
