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What the World Can Learn from Israel after July's Wave of Deadly Attacks

(Newsweek-Europe) Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat - Europe, the U.S. and the Middle East have been rocked by a growing wave of extremist terror in the past few weeks. Unfortunately, we in Jerusalem have seen this before and we have mastered strategies to deal with this threat. We must condemn any and all justification for terror. Justifying one kind of terror is justifying it all. We must fight terror with all the tools in our arsenal - relying on professional teams - but also on the strength, resilience and vigilance of our cities' residents. In Jerusalem, the public takes an active part in combating terror by being alert at all times and refusing to alter their daily lives. It creates a sense of mutual accountability, puts hundreds of thousands of eyes on the lookout, and builds confidence, which empowers our residents. Israel has invested in the world's best signal intelligence and human intelligence which we use to implement a "smart deployment" of our units. Instead of protecting the city after an attack, we put the "bad guys" on the defensive. When terrorists are busy trying to evade our security services, they are unable to dedicate time to planning attacks. We also seek to strengthen the forces of moderation, making a clear distinction between the majority who foster coexistence between Jews and Arabs, and a small minority who seek to destroy it. Israel has a rare asset - a large number of veterans. While only 2% of Israeli civilians have gun licenses, by calling on these trained Israelis to carry their arms at times of crisis, we've managed to cut down response times to an ongoing attack. Jerusalemites, instead of running from an attack, run towards the scene, reducing the harm a terrorist can cause. In February 2015, my security guards and I did just that.
2016-08-04 00:00:00
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