IDF Operations Commander Maj. Gen. Oded Bassiuk on Wednesday said that he cannot promise that Palestinian terrorism will not escalate leading into the Muslim month of Ramadan just over the horizon.
Speaking from the INSS conference, he said, “We are seeing murderous terrorism,” from Palestinians in the West Bank, with the IDF leading a “huge intelligence revolution to combat this and defend the area and on the border with actions to thwart” terrorism.
“This is our mission at all times. Most of what is happening with the Palestinians now are internal issues. There is a struggle about what will happen the day after,” Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas dies.
He said that “our actions continue, sometimes we need to go to harsh places, but we do our work on this. Whatever the political echelon decides, we need to carry it out.”
“This is our mission at all times. Most of what is happening with the Palestinians now are internal issues. There is a struggle about what will happen the day after.”
Maj. Gen. Oded Bassiu
Further, he stated, “we need to try to prevent greater escalations [of terror] during Ramadan, but I cannot promise this.”
On the positive side, he said, “look at what didn’t happen. There are no Tanzim forces there or other organized forces” from Hamas or other terror groups operating in any strength in the West Bank.
IDF's job is to protect Israel from all threats
Bassiuk also said that the IDF’s job is to protect Israel from all threats as diverse as “knives from Judea and Samaria to the [Iranian] nuclear threat.”
He added that “we are looking at a much shorter timeframe than in the past” regarding the potential of an Iranian nuclear threat.
In addition, the IDF operations chief said that there had been not one, as reported, but two recent Iranian attack incidents at sea, without specifying more details.
Moreover, he noted the Islamic Republic’s day-to-day wars with Israel through its proxies in Syria, Lebanon and other unnamed places.