Netanyahu: IDF crippling weapon workshops in West Bank

Netanyahu's comments came at a briefing he held at the IDF's Judea and Samaria headquarters in Bet El.

By HERB KEINON
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu examines a firearm during a visit to the West Bank (photo credit: AMOS BEN GERSHOM, GPO)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu examines a firearm during a visit to the West Bank
(photo credit: AMOS BEN GERSHOM, GPO)
Not only does the Palestinian Authority not condemn terror attacks, but inside Fatah there are those who praise them, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday.
Netanyahu's comments came at a briefing he held at the IDF's Judea and Samaria headquarters in the West Bank's Bet El. The PA did not condemn the attack in Jerusalem that killed four soldiers, and injured 15.
The security forces displayed for Netanyahu some of the more than 450 weapons that were rounded up in Judea and Samaria over the last year. In addition, some 40 weapons workshops were discovered and dismantled.
“In 2015, almost no workshops were discovered,” he said. “In 2016, 43 of these were found – equipment was impounded, arrests of those responsible were made, the workshops were closed. There are great efforts on our behalf to prevent the manufacturing and distribution of weaponry.”
Netanyahu said that tremendous efforts were being made against Palestinian terrorism in Judea and Samaria, in the realm of intelligence, arrests, raids and operations.
“We know that we are standing before dramatic diplomatic changes, some of which are very good for Israel, but – unfortunately – we have not yet stabilized the situation,” he said. “But from what I saw today, the IDF and security forces efforts are significant. They have had a number of significant breakthroughs – in technology, intelligence and other areas – that are leading in the right direction.”
He said that an indication of the successes the security forces have had in crippling the manufacture of weapons in the territories is that the cost of a weapon in the West Bank is now six times what it was in June, when terrorists shot up a cafe in the Sarona market in Tel Aviv.