Internal Security Minister Gilad Erdan (Likud), who is taking part in an emergency security meeting called by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Tuesday night, called to immediately stop Arab rock-throwing terrorists from being released on bail or community service.
His call, and the meeting held by Netanyahu, come after a fatal rock attack in the capital over the Rosh Hashanah holiday in which an Israeli man, Alexander Levlovitz (64), was murdered in the south-eastern Jerusalem neighborhood of Armon Hanatziv.
“A day before Alexander Levlovitz z”l was murdered in a rock attack in Jerusalem, my initiative was published to present the statistics about the judges who are particularly lenient with rock and firebomb throwers to the members of the committee to select judges. I didn’t do that by chance,” wrote Erdan on Facebook.
“As Internal Security Minister I won’t allow this murderous phenomenon to continue,” he emphasized. “Rock throwers are murderers to all intents and purposes – I don’t need to remind about Adelle Biton z”l again, do I? – and they cannot be released on bail or with public service. We won’t achieve deterrence this way!”
According to Erdan, there is only a negligible chance that rock-throwing terrorists will find themselves behind bars for many long years for their crimes, which is a situation he deplored.
“This is an intolerable situation and if in order to change it I need now to face criticism from the Left, I’m ready to pay the price.”
Erdan received live updates throughout the Jewish New Year holiday about the deteriorating security situation in Jerusalem, where violent Muslim riots took place on the Temple Mount and the Old City in addition to the lethal rock attack.
“The whole time I was thinking about Alexander z”l, an Israeli citizen who loved this country, and who didn’t merit to reach the end of the holiday alive due to a rock,” lamented the minister. Quoting the traditional liturgy, he said, “there ends a year and its maledictions.”
