Israel ramps up security amid flared tensions with Palestinians

In the latest sparring between Israel and Palestine, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas ignited an uproar after falsely claiming in a televised speech that Israelis had “summarily executed” Ahmed Manasra, a 13-year-old, who was actually recovering at an Israeli hospital after he stabbed two Israelis. The high-level name-calling highlighted the abyss between the two leaders, at a time when prospects for a return to Israeli-Palestinian negotiations appear nil. The monthlong violence has claimed the lives of eight Israelis and some 30 Palestinians, a far cry from the years of near daily shooting and bombing attacks in the early 2000s. But already, a siege mentality has taken hold.

We will not give in to the logic of brute force and policies of occupation and aggression practiced by the Israeli government and its herds of settlers who engage in terrorism against our people.

President Abbas

Municipalities have increased security patrols, the government has eased gun licensing procedures and public officials are openly carrying personal weapons and encouraging the public to do the same. Most recently the Israeli police have set an age limit on Jerusalem, barring young Muslim men from entering the most holy site on Friday, inciting more rage from Palestinian youth. Nine human rights groups in Israel  as well as the U.S. have expressed concern over what they said has been “a worrying trend” regarding the use of firearms to kill Palestinians who have attacked Israelis or are suspected of such attacks.

I’ll tell you this, if the attacker … intends to stab me, I will also take out my knife.

Moshe Niddam, a 16-year-old Israeli teen.

Middle East Israel