Moshe Lion, the mayor of the city of Jerusalem, home to 330,000 Arabs with Israeli teudot zahot, wrote an opinion article on Motzei Shabbos on how to deal with Arab incitement following the terror attacks over Shabbos.

“The murderous attack on Friday night in the Neve Yaakov neighborhood in Jerusalem was written on the wall,” Lion wrote. “For some time, all the professionals who follow what’s happening in east Jerusalem have been describing the rampant incitement in the east of the city as a main factor that encourages terrorism of individuals.

“In recent years, we’ve moved from organized terrorism to individual terrorism. Following this change, the incitement component was transformed from a troubling general factor to the direct fuel that drives individual terrorists.

“The incitement is everywhere. The young people encounter it mainly on social media but unfortunately it’s also in the educational system in the eastern part of the city – which has partially become a toxic breeding ground for active incitement, glorification of terrorists, and active encouragement of ‘acts of heroism’ and personal martyrdom.

“I am the proud mayor of a city of 330,000 Arab citizens. The vast majority of them are law-abiding citizens who want quiet, tranquility and a good life. But in order to enable a good life in the west of the city, we must reinforce what we’ve done in recent years.

“We must deal directly with all areas of incitement. First and foremost, a governmental program is needed in order to expand the Israeli curriculum in as many educational institutions as possible in the eastern part of the city. In recent years, we’ve led a real revolution in this matter. We built new schools, upgraded the educational conditions, and saw how thousands of children moved from an inciteful educational system to an Israeli educational system that provides them with educational and economic opportunities.

“But this revolution needs to continue, and at full force. Significant budgets are required and above all, the will of all involved parties to continue this revolution. This is the only long-term solution that will bring calm.

“Along with legislative solutions that will provide tools to the security system and the courts to exact a price from the perpetrators of terrorism, the security system must penetrate the stormy arena of social media. Action must be taken in all the networks where incitement flourishes, whether it is Tiktok, Facebook or Instagram – to monitor the sites and act ahead of time against instigators who create the next terrorist.

“It could be involvement in the form of legislation that would allow the security forces to immediately remove inciteful content and it could be via the arrests of those who call for murder, and also through education and information – which is not being properly addressed among the Arab youth.

“Another area that must be addressed is the collection of weapons from the east of the city. The fact that a 13-year-old boy had access to firearms is first and foremost a serious social problem, which must be dealt with separately from the security threat. The security system must initiate an active operation to collect weapons from the streets that will include incentives alongside punishing those who possess illegal weapons that can be used for nationalist attacks and crime within Arab society.

“Another and necessary component is increasing the personal security of the residents of Jerusalem, especially in the seam line areas. We, as a municipality has increased and are increasing the municipal police force but that’s not enough – we also need the governmental involvement of the National Security Ministry. Jerusalem needs at least 150 more police officers who will bolster security presence on the ground and be able to respond quickly to developing events. Yesterday’s attack and other attacks that took place in the past year illustrate that the speed of response is the difference between an attack in which seven innocent people are murdered and an incident in which the terrorist is taken before he can even take one life.

“In recent years, Jerusalem has become the main front for terrorism and is the first to absorb the shockwaves of the incitement raging in the streets. Over the years, the city has faced severe attacks that severely damaged the sense of security on the streets. I stand by the security forces and call on all relevant parties to join forces in order to best protect the capital and its residents.

“I have no doubt that with proper mobilization, this is possible.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)