Israel Declares War on Stone-Throwers as Temple Mount Seethes
Image by Getty Images
Israel will “use all necessary measures to fight against those who throw stones, firebombs, pipe bombs and fireworks in order to attack civilians and police,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.
Netanyahu held a meeting Tuesday night to discuss the security situation in and around Jerusalem, in particular a wave of attacks by Palestinians on Jewish targets using stones, firebombs, pipe bombs and fireworks.
The meeting was held after three days of violence on the Temple Mount, and the death of an Israeli civilian, Alexander Levlovitch, 64, who lost control of his car after being pelted with rocks near the Palestinian neighborhood of Sur Baher in eastern Jerusalem on Sunday night on the way home from a Rosh Hashanah eve dinner. The car then hit a pole and landed in a ditch. Levlovitch died of his injuries and two passengers were lightly wounded in the crash.
New measures discussed at the meeting on Tuesday night include changing the protocol for open-fire orders on rock throwers, establishing a minimum sentence for rock throwers, and levying a heavy fine on minor rock throwers and their families.
“We will lead systemic changes and will set a new standard of deterrence and prevention,” Netanyahu also said.
The possibility of imposing administrative detention on rock throwers, previously suggested by the prime minister, was not discussed, Ynet reported.
Participants in the meeting included the ministers of defense, public security, justice, and Jerusalem; the mayor of Jerusalem; the head of the Shin Bet security service; and the director-general of the foreign ministry.
It’s our birthday and we’re still celebrating!
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news.
This week we celebrate 129 years of the Forward. We’re proud of our origins as a Yiddish print publication serving Jewish immigrants. And we’re just as proud of what we’ve become today: A trusted source of Jewish news and opinion, available digitally to anyone in the world without paywalls or subscriptions.
We’ve helped five generations of American Jews make sense of the news and the world around them — and we aren’t slowing down any time soon.
As a nonprofit newsroom, reader donations make it possible for us to do this work. Support independent, agenda-free Jewish journalism and our board will match your gift in honor of our birthday!
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
