Fomenting religious war

It is true that at present there is a lot of violence, there have been several murders and the Israeli Government is taking steps to put down the rioting and mayhem of the Palestinian mobs.  But, we should not be over-concerned.  First of all there is no actual threat to Israel's existence, and furthermore the dire threats of Mahmoud Abbas, the current dictator of the West Bank, are hollow.  He has no forces to counter our police and IDF, merely rag-tag gangs of undisciplined youths.  Yes, they can kill a few of us, but so far no more than that. 

In a  letter published in The Jerusalem Post (9/11/14) I suggested that there is a simple way to prevent the kind of fatal attacks that have been taking place in Jerusalem, do not employ known members of Hamas or persons formerly convicted of terrorism offences.  According to reports, the man who shot Rabbi Glick at the Begin Center was employed at the Begin Center as a cook, but was previously incarcerated in Israeli prison for security offences, and the two men who deliberately drove their vehicles into people were both Hamas members.  If the police know that, then these persons should simply not be allowed to drive in Israel, their licenses should be revoked.  This is akin to listing former sex offenders, since they are never cured of their disease.  Similarly, all Hamas members and all former terrorists, should be banned from driving and working in Jerusalem.  How many more must be killed and maimed before the police actually take preventative action.  Similarly, taking strong legal action against rioters throwing stones and petrol bombs would cause others to think twice before participating in organized riots.

PM Netanyahu announced today a series of moves to improve the security situation.  All bus stops and light rail stations in Jerusalem are being protected with concrete barriers so that the phenomenon of "vehicular homicide" will be prevented.  Also, since most of the individual attackers are members of Hamas or Islamic Jihad, known members of these illegal terrorist organizations are being preemptively arrested.  Also, the number of security forces around Jerusalem, the West Bank and within Israel are being doubled and reinforced.  The forces are also being more active in confronting and counter-attacking any manifestation of violent rioting.  With these actions the current outbreak will gradually be brought under control. 

The crux of the problem is that Abbas has incited violence against the Jewish presence on the Temple Mount and has called on his followers to prevent all Jews from ascending there.  He has denied any Jewish connection to the historic site, which is a lie and is ridiculous.  In doing this he is deliberately trying to incite a religious confrontation and a religious war.  It is to be hoped that the surrounding countries will not take the bait and allow themselves to be dragged into a religious strife that is not to anyone's benefit.  PM Netanyahu has gone on record several times to assure the Arabs, and has even met with King Abdullah of Jordan who is in charge of the Temple Mount (the Haram al-Sharif), to assure him that there is no intention of changing the status quo of the site, which has been unchanged since the end of the 6-Day War of 1967.  As long as Abbas is unable to manufacture a religious war, when there is no actual basis for it, then things will eventually calm down.

Note that one reason why Abbas is doing this now, is that the Unity Government of the PA and Gaza, that he supposedly helped form with Hamas, has collapsed.  They were unable to hold a ten-year commemoration ceremony for the anniversary of the death of Yasir Arafat in Gaza, as they did in Ramallah.  It was cancelled after explosions occurred at the homes of ten leaders of Fatah in Gaza.  So Abbas needs to re-assert his control over his domain, the West Bank, and this is the way he is doing it, the usual Palestinian way, with violence, lies, murder and mayhem.  Meanwhile Gaza is quiet and no other Arab countries are following Abbas' lead.