Following a shooting incident at Jerusalem, Israel’s National Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir has pledged to distribute more weapons to civilians.
He said that the shooting showed the importance of distributing weapons among civilians and promised to continue to do so.
His remarks came as three people were killed and several wounded after two gunmen opened fire at a bus stop on the outskirts of Jerusalem on Thursday, November 30, 2023.
Police said that 16 people were injured in the shooting.
Police in West Jerusalem said the gunmen “arrived at the scene in a vehicle armed with firearms”, including an M16 and a pistol, and opened fire towards a crowd of civilians at the bus station.
The police stated that the attackers; residents of East Jerusalem, were “subsequently neutralised by security forces and a nearby civilian.”
Ammunition and weapons were found inside their car, they added.
According to Israeli media, the Magen David Adom emergency service said that one of the victims was a 24-year-old woman.
A 73-year-old man, who was in a critical condition, was pronounced dead at Shaare Zedek Medical Center. A third person also died of his wounds.
Later the three people killed in the shooting in Jerusalem were named in Israeli media as Rabbi Elimelech Wasserman, 73, Chana Ifergan, 64, and Livia Dickman, 24.
It was reported that Wasserman was a judge in Israel’s rabbinical court system and that Ifergan was a headteacher in the city of Beit Shemesh.
It added that Dickman was a resident of the Har Nof neighborhood of Jerusalem.
“Weapons save lives,” Ben-Gvir said on X.
“Despite the criticism from all kinds of parties, I will continue this policy of handing out weapons everywhere, both to emergency rooms and to civilians.
“We have a strong police force, we have a strong army, but there is no policeman everywhere, so where there are civilian weapons, it can save lives.”
Itamar Ben-Gvir
A few days after Hamas’s assault into southern Israel on October 7, Ben-Gvir began distributing thousands of assault rifles to Israelis, with priority to settlers in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, and to Israelis living alongside Palestinians in “mixed cities” inside Israel.
Soon after the Israeli National Security Minister’s comments, Benjamin Netanyahu made similar remarks, vowing to keep arming civilians.
The Israeli Prime Minister stated that in light of the shooting attack, his government will continue to distribute weapons to civilians.
Netanyahu said that he appreciated the fact that an armed civilian who was on the spot, along with two soldiers, killed the gunmen.
“The government headed by me will continue expanding the distribution of weapons to citizens. This is a measure that proves itself time and time again in the war against murderous terrorism,” Netanyahu said on X.
Israeli Opposition Leader Bemoans Shooting Attack
Israel’s opposition leader and former Prime Minister, Yair Lapid, said that the attack in Jerusalem has brought “another sad and painful morning … for all of us”.
“I send my condolences from the bottom of my heart to the families of the murdered and wishes for a speedy recovery to those injured from the heinous and horrible shooting attack,” he said.
“The security forces will continue to operate around the clock to bring the citizens of Israel to safety and to deal with the terrorist emissaries to the last of them. Israel will continue to strike terror wherever they try to raise their head.”
Yair Lapid
Reacting to the attack in Jerusalem, Energy Minister, Israel Katz demanded that the alleged attackers’ family members lose their identity from East Jerusalem.
Posting on X, Katz said the family members must also be denied any other “allowances and privileges”.
“We must hit the supporters of terrorism everywhere,” he said.
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