IDF soldiers (illustration)
IDF soldiers (illustration)IDF Spokesperson Unit

IDF Brig. Gen. (res.) Yehiam Sasson, former head of the counter-terror headquarters at the National Security Council, told Arutz Sheva on Wednesday that the government of Israel needs to change its tune quickly if it is to avoid an all-out Arab terror war.

"In my estimation we are at the beginning of a possible third intifada, the question is if it will develop into a full intifada," Sasson said, indicating a terror war. "It depends on the scope of operations that the state of Israel takes immediately."

According to the former counter-terror chief, "the state of Israel and security sources can give a response to what is happening in Judea and Samaria, the government needs to define a higher priority for dealing with the incidents, and if quick steps aren't taken this will be a third intifada."

"Judea-Samaria and Jerusalem need to receive high priority, and there they must take continuous uncompromising action with initiative against Hamas and (Islamic) Jihad, and not make do with reactionary operations," urged Sasson.

According to the senior soldier, "security sources must decide on clear instructions and act with a firm hand."

"It may be that soldiers and officers dealing with incidents like rock-throwings and stabbings will need to identify these kinds of activities, harm the terrorists and kill them. In my estimation several actions like that against terrorists could get across the message."

In dealing with the current situation Sasson argued that diplomatic considerations should not be given weight, but rather, "the military action needs to be continuous, not dependent on any diplomatic cause."

"Within Judea-Samaria there are terror sources, some of them known, some of them hidden. The IDF has the tools to reach them and eliminate them," he stressed.

"We must not act with kid gloves or else this will be a mass and popular initifada. We need to bolster the actions against all the Hamas infrastructures in Judea and Samaria, even if it harms cooperation with the Palestinian Authority."