Israel has been in the news in recent days. A historic summit has set its sights on that country. But wowIt seems that the rapprochement between Arab countries added to the presence of the United States has unleashed the discomfort of radical groups.
(Also read: Why is the summit in Israel with four Arab countries important?)
Three armed attacks in one week have left 11 dead, including two policemen. The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for at least one of the events. The authorities in that country have tightened security and detained some Palestinian citizens.
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett warned on Wednesday of a possible “wave” of violence, before the burial of two of thes five people killed in a Palestinian armed attack in central Israel.
(You may be interested in: US, Israel and Arab countries close summit by confronting Iran)
The massacre of four civilians and a policeman in Bnei Brak occurred in an ultra-religious city near Tel Aviv. Bennett, who heads a heterogeneous government coalition that groups from nationalist Jews to Arabs, affirmed that the country “is facing a wave of murderous Arab terrorism”.
The head of government also announced a meeting on Wednesday of the country’s top security officials to review the situation. “Diaa Armashah, 27, a Palestinian from the West Bank town of Jabad, arrived at Jabotinsky Street in Bnei Brak armed with an M-16 assault rifle,” Israeli police said in a statement.
Following into a nearby street, he shot two Ukrainians aged 32 and 23 and then killed two Israelis before being confronted by police, with one of the officers killed in the shootout, he added. Police said their forces remain on high alert and would send additional units to and around the West Bank.
With the events of Tuesday, the number of deaths in attacks in
Israel in the last week, not counting the attackers. The remaining victims were identified as Yaakov Shalom, 36, and Avishai Yehezkel, 29, both ultra-Orthodox based in Bnei Brak, and Amir Khoury, 32, an Arab Christian policeman.
(Also read: Syria accuses Israel of killing two civilians in a new missile attack)
The two Ukrainians have not been identified by name, although their embassy in
Israel confirmed his nationality and condemned the “heinous terrorist attacks”. Some 15,000 Ukrainians live in Israel, but since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, the country has received some 20,000 refugees from the former Soviet republic, an Interior Ministry spokeswoman said. A Ukrainian diplomatic source told AFP that they were temporary workers who have been in Israel for years, unlike refugees from the war.
The top
On March 28, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and the United States met in Israel to discuss a fundamental issue: stopping Iran’s claims in its nuclear outpost. The fact that the US was there as an assistant and not as a host reveals the relevant character with which Israel is positioning itself.
Palestine was the great absentee. “It is the first time that a meeting of this type takes place in which Israel is the host, with the participation of four Arab countries, and in which the United States is a guest, not the one who determines either the agenda or the topics,” (Retired) General Yaakov Amidror, president of the Jerusalem Institute of Strategy and Security, former head of the Investigation Division in the military Intelligence Service, told EL TIEMPO.
The host, the Israeli Yair Lapid, assured that “this summit is the first meeting of its kind, but not the last” and revealed that “we decided to turn the Negev Summit into a permanent forum”.
INTERNATIONAL WRITING
With information from AFP
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