Security forces: Arab terror could last 'months'


Ari Yashar,

Scene of Yafo Gate stabbing (illustration)
Scene of Yafo Gate stabbing (illustration)
Yonatan Sindel/Flash 90

The security system is still refusing to call the current wave of Arab terror an "intifada" terror war, but it was revealed late Thursday night that officials estimate the attacks are liable to continue for many more months, with no definite end in sight.

According to official figures released by Israel Hayom, there have been no less than 140 knife, car or shooting attacks in the last 100 days since the murder of Rabbi Eitam and Naama Henkin on October 1.

Many begin counting the current terror wave from the murder of Alexander Levlovitz in a Jerusalem rock attack in mid-September; including him, a full 24 victims have been murdered. It is worth noting that aside from the 140 attacks recorded, thousands of rock attacks have been conducted - as of December 16, no fewer than 2,225 rock attacks had been committed since Levlovitz's murder.

The 140 attacks were conducted by 156 Arabs, including both Arab citizens of Israel as well as residents of Judea and Samaria living under the Palestinian Authority (PA).

Of the attacks, 92 were conducted in Judea and Samaria, while 48 were within the 1949 Armistice lines. Of the latter figure within sovereign Israeli territory, 22 were conducted by Arabs from Judea-Samaria, while the remaining 26 were conducted by Arabs holding blue ID cards - indicating either citizenship or permanent residency in Israel.

The youngest terrorist in the last 100 days was 11-years-old, while the oldest was a 72-year-old woman. In the same time span 127 Arabs have been killed, 88 of them terrorists killed in the act of attacking, with the rest being attackers taking part in violent riots.

According to the figures there has been a slowing down in terms of the scale of rioting; breaches of public order took place at 40 locations nationwide each Friday at the start of the terror wave, whereas in recent weeks that figure has dropped to six or five locations.

However, the lethal attacks continue, with two victims murdered and another seriously wounded just this Wednesday in a stabbing at the Yafo Gate of Jerusalem's Old City.

The figures also show that vandalism attacks allegedly conducted by Jewish extremists have spiked sharply, in an apparent backlash against the Arab terror and government complacency in the face of Jews being murdered on a near daily basis.

Since the terror wave began there have been 120 cases of "nationalist crimes" in Judea and Samaria, 17 Arabs have been wounded by allegedly Jewish attackers, and five Arab houses and 15 Arab cars have been damaged in vandalism. The security system notes the figures for the 100-day period are of the level usually recorded in the course of a year.