A senior political figure in Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's entourage spoke tonight (Tuesday) with reporters accompanying Bennett's visit to Bahrain, and addressed the riots in the Shimon Hatzadik neighborhood of Jerusalem.
The senior Israeli official said: "There really has been a deterioration in the security of the residents of the neighborhood and our responsibility is to restore security with the police and that is what we are doing. At the same time there is a responsibility to prevent escalations that can lead to serious results."
"When I see Kasif, Tibi and Ben-Gvir, I know what brings people there and it inflames the situation. But everything must be done to prevent escalations," the official added, warning: "It could end badly."
The senior official referred to the Bennett government's fight against the coronavirus and said that "many of the dead are 'with COVID' and not 'because of COVID', we will have to understand based on that what the 'excess mortality' was. Every death is heartbreaking, but as a country it has been a tremendous success."
Regarding the warming of relations with Turkey, the source said: '' There is a process of careful rapprochement and there are gestures. We are seeing an increase in Turkish counter-terrorism activity in their territory. Terrorism in the Israeli context."
The senior Israeli official said that efforts were being made to prevent a bad agreement between the Western powers and Iran. "We are not giving up, we are making efforts to achieve our goals. This agreement will harm Israel, and that is not good. The agreement will pour a lot of money into the Iranian establishment that wants to harm us."
"As far as Iran is concerned, the issue of UAVs troubles the whole world. This is a very big story that we deal with in all sorts of ways," the source said.
Earlier today, Bennett met with the commander of the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet in Bahrain Bahrain.
Bennett met with Vice Admiral Brad Cooper in Bahrain Tuesday, and lauded military cooperation between the IDF and the US military.
The prime minister also noted the importance of the US Fifth Fleet in maintaining regional security in the Persian Gulf and the Middle East generally.