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IDF Moves from "Cutting the Grass" to "Weakening the Roots" in the Fight against Terror in the Territories

(Makor Rishon-Hebrew-11Aug2017) Orli Goldkling and Yohai Ofer - IDF Brig.-Gen. Lior Carmeli, who served for the past two years as commander of the Judea and Samaria Brigade, said, "We are changing our concept from 'cutting the grass' to 'weakening the roots'" of terror in the West Bank. "With a situation of 'cutting the grass,' you are always cutting it down, but it grows back. After you jail one attacker, you move on to the next attacker. We need to strengthen our deterrence and deal with the terror infrastructure so that it no longer exists. We want to reach a point where there are fewer terrorists, less incitement, fewer capabilities and infrastructure....We are working every day so that the grass doesn't grow at all." "Weakening the roots" means arresting the inciters before they influence potential attackers and acting against the wider circles that support the attackers. This includes arresting the driver that drove the terrorist, withdrawing the permits that allow his family to work in Israel, confiscating funds used to support terror - all in order to deter additional terrorists. "There have been a number of examples of parents who have turned in their children before they committed terror attacks - particularly to the Palestinian Authority security forces - out of fear that their homes would be destroyed." While the IDF seeks to avoid collective punishment, it has been focusing on weapons manufacturing. "Our challenge is to find the three factories that produce guns from among the seventy metal workshops in a city." Another target is the printing presses that publish posters calling for armed attacks on Israel or lauding "martyrs." Carmeli explained that the IDF doesn't just take down the posters, but arrests the printshop owners and confiscates their equipment, which leads other printshop owners to become hesitant to print such posters.
2017-08-14 00:00:00
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