Defense Minister Israel Katz: Jenin operation a model for all of Judea and Samaria

Responding to questions from Likud MK Avihai Boaron regarding the IDF operation in Jenin, entitled Iron Wall, Defense Minister Israel Katz said that it would serve as a model for future IDF operations throughout Judea and Samaria.

In a parliamentary question for the Defense Minister, MK Boaron asked Katz to say whether the IDF will reinforce security response teams throughout Judea and Samaria and have the IDF operate in other cities in the area, in light of the release of hundreds of terrorists as part of the hostage deal and the "truce" between the PA and Hamas terrorists, allowing them to operate against the "occupation."

Katz said that he would do everything he could, wherever the IDF is responsible, to ensure the reinforcement and proper equipping of security response teams throughout Judea and Samaria to guard against potential terrorist attacks.

He also said that Operation Iron Wall in the Jenin refugee camp represented a "fundamental change" in the IDF's approach to Judea and Samaria, with the aim of eliminating terrorists and dismantling terrorist infrastructures in the area, to the point of preventing a return to terrorist activity once the operation is over. He said that this was a lesson learned from the IDF's operations in Gaza and elsewhere.

Katz also said that he saw at the Kiryah in Tel Aviv how the Palestinian Authority forces made a show of fighting terrorists but no more and how the IDF itself needs to go in and finish the job.

Katz said that the IDF is operating at full force and with all means available, with the aim of preventing a recurrence of terror, that it not "grow like grass," a reference to the repeat "mowing the grass" operations the IDF used to launch.

The Defense Minister said that he has heard soldiers and commanders determined to be more decisive and definitive in their operations, and that "we will also operate differently in Gaza when we need to."

He ended by saying that Jenin will not be a lone operation but will be launched "in all locations - to pursue terrorism and not just defend against it."