Last year, nine months before he was appointed Defense Minister, MK Avigdor Liberman posted on his Facebook page his expectations of the cabinet meeting to be convened at noon following the terrorist attacks. Liberman listed his expectations as follows:
1. No male or female terrorist comes out alive from any terrorist attack.
2. Adopt the rules of engagement common in the United States.
3. Revoke the residency of every eastern Jerusalem resident involved in terrorist activity.
4. Activate emergency laws and impose martial law wherever needed in order to defeat terrorism.
Liberman concluded: I remind the Prime Minister and members of the cabinet, words don’t stop terrorists. Security is achieved through an iron fist.
This vehement call for an unabashed, strong-armed treatment of terrorism was posted on October 13, 2015, one of the toughest days in the current wave of terror, when MK Liberman was still just another member of the opposition. In the Aramon Hanatziv neighborhood of Jerusalem, two Arab terrorists boarded a bus, one carrying a gun the other a knife, and started attacking passengers at random until police overtook them. Two passengers were killed and seven injured, among them two women who were in critical condition.
A short while later there was a car ramming attack on Malchei Israel Street in Jerusalem, where one man, 59, was murdered and three injured. The terrorist exited his car and started stabbing pedestrians, until police finally arrived on the scene and neutralized him.
Then, in Ra’anana, an Arab terrorist, 22, from eastern Jerusalem arrived at the central bus station and stabbed one person, 32. Local civilians managed to subdue the terrorist.
It’s possible that Liberman and Netanyahu are implementing at least some of the points the defense minister posted some nine months ago. Israeli media on Thursday morning, following the massacre of four innocent Israelis in a downtown Tel Aviv café, reported a few stern steps which are being taken by security forces and the government.
Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) Gen. Yoav Mordechai announced the freezing of 83,000 entry permits issued to Judea and Samaria Arabs to visit their families inside the green line, as a show of good will for the month of Ramadan. In addition, all the gestures given residents of Gaza, including permits to pray on the Temple Mount were frozen. And 204 visitation permits issued to the families of terrorists in Israeli prisons were revoked.
Issuing those gestures of good will were, in fact, the first act in office of the new defense minister, on the recommendation of the IDF chief of staff, as part of the policy of improving the quality of life of the Palestinian population.
The two terrorist cousins, 21, who last night attacked the heart of Tel Aviv’s nightlife came from Yatta village south of Hebron. Overnight the IDF raided their homes and interrogated their families. The security apparatus is investigating how the pair made it through the green line and who helped them.