Arab rioting (illustration)
Arab rioting (illustration)Flash 90

Talk of a third intifada in the offing is overblown, according to top security officials. A report on Israel Radio Thursday quoted top officials as saying that despite the attack Wednesday in Jerusalem – just the latest in a long string of attacks against Jews in the city – terror was still “local,” and not part of an organized Palestinian campaign, as the intifadas in 1987 and 2000 were.

The officials said that they did not expect the range, type, and severity of Arab attacks against Jews to increase. Rioting was likely to continue to break out depending on circumstances, and those riots – in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria – could be severe at times, but they would not develop into an ongoing campaign.

“The Palestinian street is not interested in an intifada,” one of the security sources, who remained anonymous, told Israel Radio.

The terrorist who carried out Wednesday's attack, the officials said, was known to authorities, and officials believe that he acted on his own when he drove his car into a group of passengers waiting to board a light rail train at a station in the city.

That attack resulted in the death of a baby girl, and the injuries of eight other civilians. 

Despite the comments by security officials, many Israelis see Wednesday’s attack as the latest in what has come to be known as the "silent intifada.” In recent months  Arab extremists have rioted and carried out violent attacks in Jerusalem on a daily basis.

Wednesday's deadly attack took place one day after the police announced the formation of a new task force to combat ongoing violence in Jerusalem.