The terrorist who carried out the shooting attack at the Shuafat checkpoint on Motzei Shabbos opened fire at a group of soldiers from a few meters away and fled before any of them managed to return fire.
Noa Lazar, h’yd, an 18-year-old soldier was killed in the attack, and a civilian security guard was seriously injured. (His family has requested that the public daven for the refuah sheleimah of Chaim Dovid ben Esther b’toch sha’ar cholei Yisrael.)
According to Yossi Yehoshua, Yediot Achranot’s military correspondent, there’s no need to wait for an investigation of the attack in order to understand that the soldiers’ response to the attack was sorely lacking.
“The terrorist Udai Tamimi succeeded in escaping the scene and hiding,” Yehoshua wrote. “It seems that even he didn’t believe that a terror attack in an area full of armed soldiers would end the way it did. He himself assumed that he will be killed after the act and was not prepared to escape.”
Yehoshua continued by saying that the devastating attack highlights the urgent need to immediately transfer the authority of the Shuafat checkpoint and the other 15 checkpoints surrounding Jerusalem to the Defense Ministry’s Crossing Points Authority (C.P.A.). The C.P.A. is a civilian body established in 2005 that manages 16 checkpoints, 14 in Yehudah and Shomron, and two along the Gaza border.
“The security of the Shuafat checkpoint is the responsibility of the police and the Border Police, which oversees the Crossing Points Authority of the military police. The officers’ job of checking Palestinian and Israeli civilians at the checkpoints, dealing with terrorists and criminals, is arduous work. It’s a policing mission that is not appropriate for 18-year-olds, but for experienced Border Police officers or civilians. However, due to budget considerations, this work was assigned to the IDF.”
“Trained personnel, guards who underwent training to deal with Palestinian civilians and terror, are stationed at the checkpoints in Yehudah and Shomron instead of soldiers, who are cheap manpower. The answer is professional and the cost is correspondingly high,” Yehoshua asserted.
“The Israeli government now needs to make a moral and financial decision regarding the Jerusalem crossings – who does it send to guard these checkpoints and how does it compensate them?”
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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One Response
“The Israeli government now needs to make a moral and financial decision regarding the Jerusalem crossings – who does it send to guard these checkpoints and how does it compensate them?”
1st part of the response is to get rid of lapid & bennett on November 1st, for EVER
2nd part of the response is to vote Bibi Netanyahu שליט”א back into office on November 1st