Attorney general opposes tougher penalties as Jerusalem, West Bank violence continues
Group attacks vehicle containing infant in W. Bank, terror victim's memorial defaced, and police make multiple arrests; prime minister urges legislative action to increase deterrence.
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Weinstein opposed changing the rules of engagement and the implementation of mandatory minimum sentences, arguing that existing protocols were sufficient.
New penalties promoted by the prime minister would have set a minimum sentence of four to five years in jail for stone throwers and a minimum of ten years for throwing Molotov cocktails.
This contrasted with the Prime Minister Office's statement on Saturday night that the police was drafting a proposal with Weinstein's approval, and that that Weinstein had permitted shooting at stone-throwers in incidents where civilians' lives were in danger. Weinstein said Sunday that he had merely approved the use of Ruger rifles.
Weinstein instead suggested that mandatory sentences be implemented as a temporary provision for a year or two to see whether they did have a deterrent effect.
Netanyahu stressed in Sunday's government's meeting that despite potential opposition to the new protocols from with the judiciary, he would move ahead with "an additional expansion of the police's ability to foil the throwing of stones and firebombs. With all due respect to the courts, it's our right and our duty to determine this norm.
"We can't accept the principle that in Jerusalem, our capital, or in any other part of Israel, people organize spontaneous terror and start throwing firebombs at cars on the road," said Netanyahu.
Netanyahu also said he was considering implementing mandatory minimum sentences for throwing stones and firebombs.
Meanwhile, an increased police presence has been deployed in the most conflict-ridden neighborhoods.
Furthermore, the increase in tensions led the government on Sunday to deploy an Iron Dome battery near Sderot, where a rocket fell near a house on Friday night.
Further attacks
Underscoring the prime minister's comments, a vehicle was attacked by some 15 masked figures with stones Sunday morning while traveling from Tekoa in the West Bank, to the neighborhood of Har Homa in Jerusalem.
No one in the car was hurt, but the vehicle's windshield was smashed in, while glass and other debris fell on a 1-year-old baby and the other family members.
The family managed to escape, but nearly drove into a pole.
Another group of masked individuals threw rocks at a fire truck near the settlement of Beitar. No injuries were reported in the incident.
On Sunday evening, cars in the settlement of Anatot in Binyamin were pelted with rocks. No one was hurt, but three cars were damaged.
_b.jpg "The car damaged by stones on Sunday morning")
Violent incidents also reportedly occurred overnight Saturday. Palestinian reports said a 15-year-old boy was evacuated to Haddasah Medical Center overnight after being struck in the head by a rubber bullet in Jerusalem's Issawiya neighborhood.
The teenager was hurt when security forces dispersed a riot, said the report, and his condition was defined as stable.
Israeli police, however, said they were unaware of the incident.
Elsewhere, in Jerusalem's Nof Zion neighborhood, two Molotov cocktails were thrown at a building overnight. One exploded inside the building. No one was hurt, but the building incurred damage.
Arrests
On Sunday morning, a Muslim woman was arrested in Jerusalem's Old City after attacking a police officer and attempted to attack a Jewish passerby. Other Muslim women were removed from the site.A 17-year-old Jewish boy was also detained for allegedly breaching the rules of visitation at the Temple Mount.
Four Arab suspects, including two minors, were arrested Saturday night in Jerusalem, bringing the total number of arrestees in Jerusalem on Friday and Saturday to 27. Another 12 suspects were arrested in Binyamin over those two days.
Vandalism
In another sign of heightened friction, the memorial for terror victim Danny Gonen, shot dead in June on a road near the Israeli settlement of Dolev in the West Bank, was found desecrated on Sunday.
The memorial, which was placed next to the site of the murder, was sprayed with graffiti in Arabic. Dvora Gonen, the deceased's mother, said she was not surprised.
