Ben-Gvir orders police to prepare for major offensive against Jerusalemite 

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir ordered Israeli police on Friday to prepare for a major offensive in occupied Jerusalem starting on Sunday, Israeli media reported.

Ben-Gvir announced in a statement that this offensive aims: “To root our terror nests… and reach the terrorists in their homes,” calling the plan “Defensive Shield 2”.

He referred to a major Israeli offensive called Defensive Shield order by late Prime Minister Ariel Sharon that led to tens of deaths among Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

A senior Israeli government official reported by Hebrew media stated: “Decisions of such a scale are not made in statements by one minister or another on a sidewalk at the scene of an attack.”

Ben-Gvir promised his voters to crack down on Palestinian resistance, and he was criticised by far-right Israelis following every Palestinian resistance action for failing to fulfil his promises.

Following a nationalistic Palestinian attack in Jerusalem, he rushed to the scene and spoke to the media, heckled by angry bystanders.

The Palestinian attacker, who was executed in his car, was from Jerusalem’s Issawiya. Ben-Gvir said he had ordered police to set up roadblocks around Issawiya and urged: “We have to act with determination and aggression to protect our children.”

He added: “I wanted to have a full closure [on Issawiya], but there is a legal question on that matter, and we will discuss it. I know the steps I am setting out are not enough. I want to enact the death penalty for terrorists.”

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