Officials in Israel’s defense establishment responded on Friday to the harshly worded letter of Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, in which he blasted the decision to close Highway 60 to Israeli traffic due to the funeral of the terrorist who carried out Thursday’s attack in Huwara.
The officials, who were quoted by Galei Tzahal (IDF Radio), said that the decision to close the road was not made ahead of the terrorist's funeral, but rather was made immediately after the funeral began, as Palestinian Arabs began to gather along the road, and even before the violent riots by the Palestinian Arabs started.
The reason for the closing of the road was a concern over riots and confrontations between Jews and Palestinian Arabs, as had occurred overnight Thursday following the attack in Huwara. According to the defense officials, had the road remained open to Jews - who would have been caught with their vehicles in the mass funeral of the terrorist - this could have led to casualties, and as such the road was closed to maintain the safety of the Jewish residents.
Responding to Smotrich's claim in the letter that "the IDF did not prepare in advance with appropriate forces," the defense establishment made clear that the Huwara area is being reinforced with many additional troops.
In the last day, the officials said, most of the Border Police soldiers have been assigned to the Huwara area, in addition to police teams and two IDF battalions, as well as another IDF reinforcement company which arrived in Huwara on Friday.
(Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Simchat Torah and Shmini Atzeret in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)