“There is a real concern that the copycat effect could lead to efforts to hit Israeli and Jewish targets around the world,” Kochavi said.
By United with Israel Staff
Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi has warned that the new wave of terror in Israel could spread globally, particularly targeting Jews, Times of Israel reported, citing Hebrew-language Channel 13.
“There is a real concern that the copycat effect could lead to efforts to hit Israeli and Jewish targets around the world,” Channel 13 quoted him as saying, according to the Times.
Israel’s security cabinet met on Wednesday to discuss the urgent situation. A total of 11 people were murdered in terror attacks throughout the country within eight days.
Last week on Tuesday, an ISIS-affiliated terrorist hailing from an Arab-Israeli village in the Negev, southern Israel, carried out a car-ramming and shooting attack in the nearby city of Beersheba, claiming four lives. Ten children were orphaned.
On Sunday evening, two Islamic terrorists from Umm al-Fahm, an Arab-Israeli city in the north, shot and killed two 19-year-old off-duty border police — one Jewish, the other Druze — in the city of Hadera, near Haifa.
On Tuesday evening, a Palestinian Arab from a village in the PA-administered areas of Judea and Samaria – working illegally in Israel – murdered five people in the city of Bnei Brak, just east of Tel Aviv. The victims included a father of five young children, two Ukrainians and a Christian-Arab who lost his life in a shootout with the terrorist.
On Thursday morning, a Palestinian terrorist from a town near Hebron stabbed and critically wounded a 28-year-old passenger on a bus in Gush Etzion.
According to the Channel 13 report, the Mossad – which works to prevent attacks against Israeli and Jewish institutions in diaspora communities – together with the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) and Military Intelligence, would need to take additional steps to prevent terror attacks.
In a video message Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett urged Israelis with gun licenses to arm themselves in public. “Open your eyes. Whoever has a license to carry a weapon, this is the time to carry it,” he said.
He also described the latest government measures being taken to counter the threats.