Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Monday, Jun 02, 2025

Israel’s PM urges citizens to arm themselves after Tel Aviv attack

Israel’s PM urges citizens to arm themselves after Tel Aviv attack

Security cabinet in emergency talks ahead of Ramadan, Passover and Easter celebrations
Israel’s prime minister has called on citizens with gun licences to arm themselves after the bloodiest attack in years in greater Tel Aviv, which marked the third such killings spree in the Jewish state in a week.

“What is expected of you, Israeli citizens? Vigilance and responsibility,” the country’s far-right leader, Naftali Bennett, said in a video statement on Wednesday evening. “Whoever has a gun licence, this is the time to carry it.”

Bennett, who spoke from his home where he is in quarantine after testing positive for Covid, had earlier said the country was facing a “new wave of terror”.

The back-to-back attacks have left Israelis and Palestinians bracing for further violence.

The defence minister, Benny Gantz, announced he had ordered 1,000 soldiers to bolster police forces, and Israel’s military presence in the Palestinian territories it occupies has been reinforced.

The bloodshed comes at a dangerous time. Next month, a rare convergence of Ramadan for Muslims, Passover for Jews and Easter for Christians is expected to raise tensions, with people off work and in the streets. Israel tightly controls access to Jerusalem’s holy sites for all three religions, which has previously led to confrontations.

Those holidays also precede a series of delicate anniversaries in the coming weeks. Some, such as Israeli independence day and the Palestinian Nakba commemoration of their expulsion, are decades old. Others are fresher, such as the one-year anniversary of the 11-day May conflict that killed more than 250 people in Gaza and 13 in Israel.

In the aftermath of Tuesday’s shooting rampage in Bnei Brak on the outskirts of Tel Aviv, one car’s white leather seats had been stained with blood, as were the front tiles of a nearby grocery shop, near multipacks of Coca-Cola bottles and a crisp packet stand.

The victims were a diverse mix – two Jewish ultra-Orthodox residents, Yaakov Shalom, 36, and Avishai Yehezkel, 29; two unnamed Ukrainians living in Israel as construction workers; and Amir Khoury, 32, a Christian Arab police officer who had engaged in a firefight with the attacker.

Police identified the perpetrator as Diaa Armashah, 27, a Palestinian from the occupied West Bank. He had arrived in Bnei Brak with an M-16 assault rifle and opened fire on cars, cyclists and balconies.

Amateur video footage showed a man wearing black walking into a street with a long gun as people ran away.

At one of the funerals on Wednesday, Ovadia Yehezkel said his brother, Avishai, had used his body to shield his two-year-old son in a stroller. “You cared for your son; you did not give up,” Ovadia said in a eulogy, according to the Times of Israel news outlet.

Israeli forces operating in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday arrested five Palestinians allegedly involved. The Palestinian Prisoner’s Club, a group that represents current and former Palestinian prisoners, said those arrested were Amarshah’s relatives.

Bnei Brak’s bloodshed brought the total death toll in Israel in recent days to 11, the highest number of people killed by militants in such a short period outside wartime in several years.

Last week, an attack in the southern city of Beersheba, in which four people were killed in a stabbing and car-ramming rampage, was carried out by an Arab citizen of Israel.

On Sunday, an Arab assailant, a resident of a town in the north of the country, shot and killed two police officers in Hadera, a city north of Tel Aviv, before he was gunned down by other officers.

Both those attacks were claimed by Islamic State, an organisation that is not known to have a large presence inside the country but which Israeli and Palestinian authorities fear could wield increased influence.

Amos Harel, a military and defence correspondent for Haaretz newspaper, said Tuesday’s attack – which he said may have been a “copycat” attack by a sympathiser inspired by last week’s attacks – was “Israel’s worst fear come true”.

“On three separate occasions, terrorists managed to reach the heart of cities inside Israel and carry out campaigns of slaughter unhindered,” he wrote. “None of the attacks were preceded by intelligence warnings. For now, the terrorists seem to be one step ahead of the security services, which still seem to be groping in the dark. Israelis’ sense of personal security has suffered a serious blow.”

He added: “In the coming days, we will likely see more stormy demonstrations, calls for vengeance and perhaps attacks on Palestinians and Israeli Arabs. Similar things happened last May during the Hamas-Israel war in the Gaza Strip.”

The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, who is based in the West Bank, issued a condemnation of the Tuesday night attack. “The killing of Palestinian and Israeli civilians will only lead to further deterioration of the situation, while we are all striving for stability,” Abbas said in a statement.

On Wednesday, Jordan’s King Abdullah II also condemned “violence in all its forms” in a meeting with visiting the Israeli president Isaac Herzog.

Earlier this week, Israel hosted a summit of Arab foreign ministers from Morocco, Egypt, the UAE and Bahrain in the Negev desert. Israel’s budding ties with former Arab foes, while continuing to control the lives of several million Palestinians living under occupation, have led to a sense of desperation and anger among Palestinians.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Paris Saint-Germain's Greatest Triumph Is Football’s Lowest Point
OPEC+ Agrees to Increase Oil Output for Third Consecutive Month
Turkey Detains Istanbul Officials Amid Anti-Corruption Crackdown
Meta and Anduril Collaborate on AI-Driven Military Augmented Reality Systems
EU Central Bank Pushes to Replace US Dollar with Euro as World’s Main Currency
European and Arab Ministers Convene in Madrid to Address Gaza Conflict
U.S. Health Secretary Ends Select COVID-19 Vaccine Recommendations
Trump Warns Putin Is 'Playing with Fire' Amid Escalating Ukraine Conflict
India and Pakistan Engage Trump-Linked Lobbyists to Influence U.S. Policy
U.S. Halts New Student Visa Interviews Amid Enhanced Security Measures
Trump Administration Cancels $100 Million in Federal Contracts with Harvard
SpaceX Starship Test Flight Ends in Failure, Mars Mission Timeline Uncertain
King Charles Affirms Canadian Sovereignty Amid U.S. Statehood Pressure
Iranian Revolutionary Guard Founder Warns Against Trusting Regime in Nuclear Talks
UAE Offers Free ChatGPT Plus Subscriptions to Citizens
Lebanon Initiates Plan to Disarm Palestinian Factions
Iran and U.S. Make Limited Progress in Nuclear Talks
The Daily Debate: The Fall of the Dollar — Strategic Reset or Economic Self-Destruction?
Trump Administration's Tariff Policies and Dollar Strategy Spark Global Economic Debate
OpenAI Acquires Jony Ive’s Startup for $6.5 Billion to Build a Revolutionary “Third Core Device”
Turkey Weighs Citizens in Public as Erdoğan Launches National Slimming Campaign
Saudi-Spanish Business Forum Commences in Riyadh
Saudi Arabia and Spain Sign MoU to Boost SME Sectors
UK Suspends Trade Talks with Israel Amid Gaza Offensive
Iran and U.S. Set for Fifth Round of Nuclear Talks Amid Rising Tensions
Russia Expands Military Presence Near Finland Amid Rising Tensions
Indian Scholar Arrested in Crackdown Over Pakistan Conflict Commentary
Israel Eases Gaza Blockade Amid Internal Dispute Over Military Strategy
President Biden’s announcement of advanced prostate cancer sparked public sympathy—but behind closed doors, Democrats are in panic
A Chinese company made solar tiles that look way nicer than regular panels!
Indian jet shootdown: the all-robot legion behind China’s PL-15E missiles
The Chinese Dragon: The True Winner in the India-Pakistan Clash
Australia's Venomous Creatures Contribute to Life-Saving Antivenom Programme
The Spanish Were Right: Long Working Hours Harm Brain Function
Did Former FBI Director Call for Violence Against Trump? Instagram Post Sparks Uproar
US and UAE Partner to Develop Massive AI Data Center Complex
Apple's $95 Million Siri Settlement: Eligible Users Have Until July 2 to File Claims
US and UAE Reach Preliminary Agreement on Nvidia AI Chip Imports
President Trump and Elon Musk Welcomed by Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim with Cybertruck Convoy
Strong Warning Issued: Do Not Use General Chatbots for Medical, Legal, or Educational Guidance
Saudi Arabia Emerges as Global Tech Magnet with U.S. Backing and Trump’s Visit
This was President's departure from Saudi Arabia. The Crown Prince personally escorted him back to the airport.
NVIDIA and Saudi Arabia Launch Strategic Partnership to Establish AI Centers
Trump Meets Syrian President Ahmad al-Shara in Historic Encounter
Trump takes a blow torch to the neocons and interventionists while speaking to the Saudis
US and Saudi Arabia Sign Landmark Agreements Across Multiple Sectors
Why Saudi Arabia Rolled Out a Purple Carpet for Donald Trump Instead of Red
Elon Musk Joins Trump Meeting in Saudi Arabia
Trump says it would be 'stupid' not to accept gift of Qatari plane
Quantum Computing Threatens Bitcoin Security
×