Israeli police are having a more difficult time preventing Israeli civilians from attacking cornered Palestinian terrorists than in dealing with the terrorists themselves, a senior Israeli police officer said on Wednesday.
Commander Motti Cohen said police had to intervene Monday to prevent a crowd in the town of Rishon Lezion, south of Tel Aviv, from mauling a 19-year-old Palestinian who had just stabbed three civilians, including an 80-year-old woman, who was seriously wounded.
"Dozens of people tried to take the law into their own hands," he told reporters. "Officers had to distance the mob. It was harder and more complicated than stopping the initial attack."
The attacker had sought shelter in a store from a crowd that had begun to converge on him. Cellphone video footage shows police on motorcycles arriving at this point and seizing the assailant. The crowd attempted to get at the handcuffed Palestinian and the few police on hand had a difficult time pushing it back. A man could be heard shouting, "Why is he still alive?"
Later in the day, a similar incident occurred in the coastal city of Netanya after a Palestinian from the West Bank stabbed a 71-year-old man on the street, seriously wounding him. The assailant was shot and wounded by police but as they tried to extricate him a crowd closed in, trying to get at him. One man, wielding a wooden plank, was stopped by police but then used the plank to strike a police officer, who was injured. When police seized the Jewish attacker, members of the crowd tried to get at him, assuming that he too was a terrorist. Police at the scene had to call for reinforcements. The Israeli assailant was remanded today in court where the judge noted that he has a criminal record, including a jail sentence.
Commander Cohen said that the police will not tolerate vigilante justice. "I want to be very clear," he said. "Vigilante justice will not be permitted."
Security officials have urged citizens who are licensed gun holders to take their guns with them when they venture out of doors during the current period of "lone-wolf" attacks since security personnel cannot be everywhere. Civilians have on a number of occasions been credited with stopping attacks.
The resumption of attacks in cities inside Israel proper came after several days in which knifing attacks were confined to the West Bank. For the past month there have been almost daily knife attacks—sometimes only one, sometimes several. Analysts say that this "mini-intifada" differs from previous uprisings in apparently not being directed from above or involving militant Palestinian organizations.
Senior Palestinian leaders have been accused of encouraging the attacks by praising the heroism of the youths carrying them out, but recently even the most militant leaders have avoided such rhetoric. President Mahmoud Abbas, who had hinted at far-reaching diplomatic steps he planned to take against Israel, is seeking now to calm the situation, observers said.
Secretary of State John Kerry has reportedly told Abbas that he intends to push for renewing Israeli-Palestinian peace talks after a planned summit meeting between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Obama.