Site of Damascus Gate stabbing
Site of Damascus Gate stabbingFlash 90

Brigadier General Aryeh Amit, the former commander of the Jerusalem District, spoke with Arutz Sheva about police security operations in Jerusalem in light of the terrorist attack in which Border Police officer Hadas Malka was stabbed to death Friday night.

"Although in our arrogance we think that in recent years we're the ones who affect [the rate of terrorist attacks], the only thing we know how to do - especially the Shin Bet security service, and then the police and then the army - is to use intelligence," Amit said.

"But it is the Palestinian street that determines the pace," he added. "It decides when to [escalate the conflict] and when not to, based on mood swings and political events...and the month of Ramadan has been prone to trouble for years."

During the month of the Ramadan daily fast, Amit continued, "the religious tension rises and their nerves become more frayed, and the restrictions we impose on them because we have no choice incense the youth even more than normally, because they prevent them from reaching the Temple Mount and the result is attacks and riots on the Temple Mount and in East Jerusalem."

"Let's remember that the terrorists who killed our lovely soldier came here without permission. They crossed into the city illegally and made themselves at home," he said.

According to him, the police and the security forces still have much they can and should do: First and foremost, "to continue the intelligence work, which is amazing. Many incidents were blocked and did not happen because we know how to use intelligence properly. We have to realize that there are things that are not under our control. Things will always continue to boil up from below as long as their leaders do not cooperate with us, and there will be one explosion or another."

He said that while the security arrangements in Jerusalem are among the best in the world, he has "more than a feeling...that this was a major operational failure," in the fact that terrorists who are not soldiers could attack border police officers from behind and stab them.

"This event should not have ended as it did," he asserted.

As for the Israeli criticism of the silence of the Palestinian leadership and the lack of condemnation from it, Amit says dismissively: "It will not happen, Don't waste words on it. I have a lot of complaints about our leadership, but the Palestinian leadership is really awful, evil and unprofessional, and lacks a minimum of integrity toward the Palestinian people. So I personally do not expect anything good from them."

"I also do not believe in the possibility of any progress with this leadership. If a slightly more normal leadership comes into being, there will be something to talk about. With this one - it is a waste of time."