Rabbi Rontzki
Rabbi RontzkiYoni Kempinski

Former Chief IDF Rabbi Avichai Rontzki told Arutz Sheva Thursday that he is hard pressed to understand why Central Command Head Maj. Gen. Roni Numa reportedly told newsmen the day before that he would like to see a gamut of questionable moves made.

Those moves including having the Palestinian Authority (PA) "security forces" supplied with more weapons and bulletproof vehicles, and to see Arab terrorist prisoners freed – in order to assist and encourage the PA to fight terror.

The reports caused anger in official Jerusalem and were denied by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.

"I know him many years," Rabbi Rontzki said. "He is a serious person. I can't understand it. They are trying to murder soldiers and civilians everywhere, and you want to embrace the PA, which is bringing about all of this, through incitement?"

The IDF has to go from defense to offense, he opined. "I do not want to talk about Defensive Shield 2, but the army knows what to do, there are contingency plans for every situation. A wide ranging operation that strikes at and completely eliminates the incitement, and the Justice Ministry needs to set up a protocol for deporting families."

"The state has got to provide its residents with security," he stressed. "Will we always walk around in dread, fearing that we will be stabbed or shot? The citizens don't care that it is hard to locate the terrorists because this is 'popular terror.' It's not interesting."

The rabbi, who now heads the Itamar Yeshiva, called on the security establishment to wake up and carry out effective offensive operations, not defensive ones.

"No more bulletproofed jeeps or concrete barriers," he said. "We've turned our area into a military base with jeeps and weapons."

"There is a general rule in the army that says any defensive line stands the risk of being penetrated," he revealed. "You can add concrete barriers and they will break through that. They will find a way."