Security forces on alert for possible attacks on Temple Mount
By AMY KLEIN and news agencies - Jerusalem Post
Security forces are preparing for possible right-wing attacks on the Temple Mount, senior officials said Sunday.
Jerusalem police have recently conducted exercises based on various scenarios of possible attacks, drawn up from intelligence reports, police officials said. One of the scripts involved a car coming from Hebron to carry out a car bombing, in revenge for a murder of a Jewish resident.
Defense Minister Yitzhak Mordechai alluded to steps taken and "successful things" that had already been done to thwart attacks on the Temple Mount.
Speaking to Army Radio, Mordechai said: "We are approaching 2000. In 2000, all kinds of extremists - Christian, Moslem, and Jewish - could suddenly get 'divinely inspired' and do serious things... "Any
such action could spark a huge fire. Therefore, we are obligated to make every effort to prevent any extremist from getting to such a point. I know that steps are being taken and I know of successful
things that have been done." He would not elaborate.
The General Security Service has increased its protection of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, following threats by right-wing extremists. Netanyahu has reportedly begun wearing a bullet-proof
vest in public and has limited his public appearances in accordance with GSS instructions.
Netanyahu's bureau chief, Uri Elitzur, said the premier had held a series of meetings on the matter with security officials and is taking the threats against his life seriously. Elitzur said Netanyahu had
received what he described as abusive letters from both right- and left-wing extremists which included "threats of murder."
Security was also increased around Mordechai and President Ezer Weizman, security sources said. Mordechai, however, said in the Army Radio interview that he is not changing his routine, and had not taken to wearing a bullet-proof vest. "I have a rule," he said. "I will only wear flak jackets in places where soldiers where them. In other places, I will behave like any Israeli civilian."
The Temple Mount was opened to tourists Sunday for the first time since last Wednesday, when police clashed with Wakf officials inside the compound. Police denied the Wakf officials' claims that they acted violently when they entered the site to arrest a fleeing Arab. Jerusalem police chief Cmdr. Yair Yitzhaki said tensions have decreased at the site. "I hope that the wisdom of the Wakf officials
and the Palestinian leadership won't turn the site into a center for confrontations," he said.
Police have not decided to increase security on the Temple Mount, though the director of the Wakf announced he plans to strengthen Wakf presence there. Police and the GSS are investigating
whether right-wing activists were involved in placing a firebomb near one of the Temple Mount gates two weeks ago. It caused damage to one of the doors.
Jerusalem police opened an investigation of right-wing activists Itamar Ben-Gvir and Noam Federman on suspicion they insulted and incited against a public official, following their statements
about Mordechai last week.
Federman and Ben-Gvir were among the small group that had demonstrated outside Mordechai's house in Motza to protest the murder of Rabbi Shlomo Ra'anan in Tel Rumeida in Hebron. During the demonstration, witnesses testified, the activists called Mordechai a murderer, and Mordechai said that they told him to bring his son outside so he could see "his father the murderer." Ben-Gvir said he didn't call Mordechai a murderer ,but added that Mordechai is responsible for Ra'anan's
murder and carries the responsibility of the security in Hebron. "I don't remember the left-wing activists who demonstrated against Netanyahu calling him a murderer being investigated," he said.
Margot Dudkevitch adds: In an interview Sunday, Ehud Sprinzak, professor of political science at the Hebrew University and author of The Ascendance of Israel's Radical Right, said that reports of the
establishment of a Jewish underground appear to be grossly exaggerated. "This is just a slogan," he said. "With a very small exception, most of the suspects are known to security forces and carry out their operations publicly."
The recent threats reported in the media, he said, should be divided into two categories. Reports of threats to kill high-ranking government officials such as Netanyahu or Mordechai, are greatly
exaggerated, he said, adding that there is a greater sensitivity to this since the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin. While the GSS should take all precautions, he added, the chances of such attacks
are very low. "I don't identify anything close to the atmosphere that prevailed before Rabin was assassinated," he said. "The frenzy that encompassed the period is missing."
One should also take into account that a right-wing government is currently in power, he added. But reports that right-wing vigilantes plan to attack Palestinians in the territories should be treated more
seriously, he said, especially when terrorist attacks are committed and settlers lives are lost. Then there is a general feeling that the security forces are not doing enough to safeguard them, leading to
talk of revenge against the Palestinians. Reports of plans to attack the Temple Mount or other holy shrines are not new, and the perpetrators of such plans are clearly trying to stop the peace process. "These places are usually heavily guarded, but security can always be boosted," he said. (c) 1998 The Jerusalem Post
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