Police preparing for wide-scale rioting in September

Danino says forces readying for possibility of civil struggle as Palestinians expected to unilaterally declare statehood.

By YAAKOV LAPPIN
Yochanan Danino 311 (photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
Yochanan Danino 311
(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
The Israel Police is preparing for the possibility of major riots in September, when Palestinians are expected to unilaterally declare statehood, Insp.-Gen. Yochanan Danino said in a speech to the Israel Bar Association in Eilat on Sunday.
“The Israel Police is currently preparing for September, and for the possibility that various declarations regarding a nonviolent-civil struggle against the background of a declaration of a Palestinian state will end up becoming a violent conflict, and turn into wide-scale rioting,” Danino said.
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The police commissioner added that his forces faced a “new reality” due to areas of friction between populations, attempts to infiltrate the borders, and “calls on Internet sites and Facebook to violate Israel’s sovereignty, as well as the the situation that the whole of the Middle East is experiencing during these days.”
Intelligence officers have been working together with operational planners at police headquarters in Jerusalem, including the Border Police, the Jerusalem police district, and the northern district, to draw up the plans.
“In this reality, we are obligated, as a security force, to expect all possibilities and various scenarios, and prepare accordingly. This is a national mission and a national challenge,” Danino said.
“The key to success for the State of Israel in containing these expected incidents, at least from the security standpoint, is to have cooperation between the security forces, with a wide national perspective on the threats, potential scenarios, and the responses to them,” he said.