Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman likes his coffee.
By Thursday morning, he was already at the Sarona market in Tel Aviv, drinking a cup of coffee at a cafe to show his support for the market where two Arab terrorists had murdered four Israelis and wounded five others barely 12 hours before.
The popular market with its cafes, bars, restaurants and other little shops is located across from the Kirya, home to the IDF headquarters and office of the defense ministry.
Sarona made sure to quickly reopen in accordance with the urging of Mayor Ron Huldai who told media “we have to live with this reality,” not let terror rule Israeli lives.
“Please allow me to express my condolences to the families and I wish the wounded a speedy recovery,” Liberman told journalists Thursday morning after they asked how the government would respond to the attack.
“I came to salute the residents of Tel Aviv who have had to absorb yet another serious incident. Despite this, they want to return to regular life and to prove that life is stronger. I don’t intend to elaborate on the steps which we will be taking and I definitely don’t intend to make do with words only,” Liberman said.
His intentions soon became clear.
As the security cabinet was sitting down to discuss those measures, the IDF was already beefing up its presence in Judea and Samaria. Hundreds of soldiers in numerous units are now stationed in the regions in two additional battalions “in accordance with situation assessments.”
The added units range from infantry to special forces fighters.
Police patrols have been beefed up in Tel Aviv around the city’s train stations and the central bus station, according to Israel Police spokesperson Micky Rosenfeld.
In addition, 83,000 permits were frozen that would have allowed Arabs from Judea, Samaria and Gaza to cross the checkpoints to visit relatives and friends in other regions and to enter Jerusalem to pray at the Al Aqsa Mosque.
Among those were Israeli work permits that had been given to 204 relatives of the terrorists, who are residents of the Hebron suburb of Yatta, in the southern Hebron Hills.
Preparations are already being made to demolish the family home of at least one of the two terrorists who carried out the attack.