A former senior security aide to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has threatened the Palestinian Authority with a “Defensive Shield II” military offensive in the occupied West Bank if no action is taken to stop Palestinian resistance, the Middle East Monitor reported.
“It is a dangerous game,” Meir Ben-Shabbat told the Times of Israel. “If it [Palestinian resistance] is intended as a lever to pressure Israel, it is dangerous for [Mahmoud Abbas] first and foremost.”
Ben-Shabbat said that if Abbas does not take more forceful measures against the Palestinian resistance, the Israeli occupation army could be forced to carry out a major military operation in the West Bank, as it did in 2002 at the height of the Second Intifada.
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“Abu Mazen remembers well the days of Operation Defensive Shield,” explained Netanyahu’s former aide. “He does not want to get there, but it will get there. Israel’s security services have a primary responsibility to protect Israeli lives. If we get to a situation where we need to do that, we will.”
According to Ben-Shabbat, the PA does not do its part.
“It does not want to be in conflict with anyone, so it lets the thugs in Nablus establish the Lion’s Den terror [sic] group, it lets the thugs in Jenin store weapons and take over the refugee camp. Then it leaves Israel to deal with the results.”
(MEMO, PC, SOCIAL)
