Claim Insufficient Attention Paid to Combatting Terrorism in Israel

Reserve Gen. Rehavam Ze’evi, who was the Prime Minister’s advisor on terrorism during the former Labor government, has criticized the present government for not paying enough attention to combatting terrorism within Israel.

Speaking at a symposium on terrorism at Tel Aviv University’s Institute for Strategic Studies, Ze’evi said terrorism is treated only as a secondary problem by Israel’s various security services. He noted that not enough has been done to penetrate terrorist headquarters as a means of preventing terrorist acts.

He also charged that West Bank personalities, who are not searched, have been using this special treatment to smuggle arms and explosives across the border. He noted that while Archbishop Hillarion Capucci and the son of former Hebron Mayor, Hadj Jaabari, had been arrested for smuggling arms, there were many others, such as United Nations employes and diplomats, who cross the borders without being searched and may be carrying arms, sometimes unknowingly.

Ze’evi also said it was wrong to place the major responsibility for internal security on the police, who lack the knowledge, experts, resources and the money to adequately cope with the problem.

Reserve Gen. Aharon Yariv, head of the Institute and a former chief of intelligence, agreed that too little attention was being paid to internal security. He urged that the problem be dealt with by a higher echelon of officials who would coordinate all activities between the various security branches. He recommended creating a ministry just for this problem. Yariv noted that there were 11,000 acts of terrorism in Israel during the last 13 years during which 670 people died and 3000 were injured.