''נשק קטלני לכל דבר''

The commander of Central Command, Major General Roni Numa, signed an administrative order prohibiting the possession of realistic model weapons that can be converted into firearms to carry out shooting attacks against Jews.

Following the new order, IDF forces operated in the Arab city of Jenin and confiscated seven air guns that were sold in a store alongside explosives and other means that could be turned into weapons.

The order signed by the OC Central Command prohibits unauthorized possession of dangerous material such as airguns and fireworks. In the recent terror wave, a number of shooting attacks were carried out with such weapons, including two shooting attacks in Jerusalem.

The slide and barrel of the airsoft guns are replaceable for thousands of shekels, and thus the weapon becomes more lethal and much more effective.The conversion takes place in laboratories and workshops mainly in the Jerusalem, Hevron, and Shechem area.

Lt. Col. Sagiv Dahan, operations officer of the Judea and Samaria Division, told Arutz Sheva following the IDF's new order and the seizure of weapons in Jenin that the IDF is constantly checking itself and conducting meaningful learning processes in order to ensure the security of the residentsJudea and Samaria region.

"Over the past two years, the division has been in a significant battle against weapons production," says Dahan. "Our role in this campaign is to locate the weapons and production facilities of these weapons, reduce access to them and thereby reduce the number of attacks using homemade weapons.

"These weapons are no less lethal than standard weapons," Lieutenant Colonel Dahan notes, noting that the operational activity on the ground is carried out on two levels: searching for weapons in Arab homes and closing the workshops where these weapons are manufactured. By closing the workshops, the prices of the weapons rise, while meanwhile becoming less available.

"We developed quite a few intelligence and physical capabilities - how to look for the weapons and where; the enemy has also improved, and they hide the weapons better," says the officer, noting that over the past two years IDF forces in Judea and Samaria confiscated over 700 weapons, and closed more than 70 factories where the weapons were manufactured.

Regarding the commander's decision to issue an administrative order, the officer says that "the air guns are weapons for all intents and purposes.Professionals replace the barrel and the firing mechanism and turn it into a deadly weapon.

"These weapons were used to carry out attacks in Jerusalem last year and also at the end of 2015. We want to tell the Palestinians - it is not worth having weapons, it's expensive and you risk us coming to look for weapons.We will not allow weapons to be scattered about the region."

General Dahan referred to the massacre in Neve Tzuf, in which three members of the Salomon family were murdered. "Since the investigation has not been completed and has not been distributed, I will not go into details that are mostly confidential - I can only say that we as an army took this incident and questioned it in all possible aspects in order to prevent further infiltration into the community and all the settlements.

"We will advance the defense of the settlements by technological means and by means that are simpler, and our job is to improve all the time in order to prevent this event from repeating itself," the officer stressed.

On the incitement in the Arab street against IDF soldiers and Jewish citizens, Dahan said, "We see incitement in the field from all the groups. I will quote you the division commander who said, 'If someone used to incite against us once, we'd wave a finger at them. Today, whoever incites, we close his printing press or radio station and he comes to court and is punished."