Barak: We won't let terror attacks affect our daily lives

Defense minister says security on high alert following terror attack outside south Tel Aviv club, intelligence of attack near Gaza.

By JPOST.COM STAFF, YAAKOV LAPPIN
Barak at press conference 311 (photo credit: Ariel Harmony / Defense Ministry)
Barak at press conference 311
(photo credit: Ariel Harmony / Defense Ministry)
Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Monday assessed the current security situation following a terror attack in Tel Aviv and the threat of another attack near Gaza and said terrorism would not be allowed to affect life in Israel.
"The Shin-Bet (the Israel Security Agency), police and IDF are primed and prepared to prevent terrorists from disrupting daily life in Tel Aviv and within our cities," Barak said during a visit to Ashkelon. "We are resolved in our intent to strike those who carry out attacks," he added.
RELATED:
Click for timeline of Monday's attack
DJ at Tel Aviv club: I was told to keep playing
Background: Ramming terror attacks in recent years
Barak said security forces were on high alert in the South "with the potential of a further terror attack similar to the one that took place ten days ago," Barak said.
Commenting on raised tensions on the Gaza border and the renewed threat of rocket fire from the coastal territory, Barak said Israel was moving "full speed ahead" on development and deployment of the Iron Dome rocket defense system.
"We will have a third Iron Dome system within ten days, which will be able to defend Ashdod, beyond those already defending Ashkelon and Beersheba," he said, noting that a fourth battery was expected by year's end, and nine were to be operational within the next two years.
Eight people were injured in south Tel Aviv early Monday morning, when a terrorist from the West Bank carjacked a taxi and rammed it into a police road block protecting a nightclub, before going on a stabbing spree.
Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch on Monday afternoon visited the scene of the attack and said that the police reaction prevented a huge tragedy that would have badly affected a number of children.
Aharonovitch said that this kind of attack carried out by a lone terrorist is a well known scenario but is hard to forecast. Therefore, Aharonovitch said, it is important to prepare for every possible outcome in situations like this.
"The main message of the attack is that the police acted as a security shield and prevented teenagers from being hurt," he continued.
Police said the terrorist, a 20-year-old Nablus resident, entered a taxi near the beginning of Salameh Street, and hijacked the vehicle, stabbing the driver in the hand. He then drove for approximately a kilometer down Salameh Street towards the Haoman 17 nightclub, which was filled with high school children at an end-of-summer party. At the time of the attack, almost all of the teenagers were inside the club.
Border Police had set up a precautionary road block ahead of time at the entrance to the club on Abarbanel Street, in Tel Aviv's Florentine neighborhood. The terrorist rammed the road block, and struck a number of civilians and a border policeman.