‘Our enemies are thinking of testing us’: Netanyahu issues warning two weeks before election

Exactly two weeks before Israel's elections, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the security barrier separating Israel from the West Bank on Tuesday and once again warned of a possible scenario in which Palestinian Authority security forces turn their weapons against Israeli targets. Netanyahu said there were security alerts in the area and suggested that Israel's enemies were considering taking action in the run-up to the October 27 election. "Our enemies are thinking of testing us in these days leading up to the elections," Netanyahu said. "I warn them that we are prepared for every scenario, including what is known as 'turning the guns around.'" The possibility of Palestinian security forces turning their weapons against Israel has featured increasingly prominently in Israeli political and security discussions over the past month and a half. The issue first emerged during a briefing at the IDF's Central Command, when Netanyahu confronted IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir with a question about what would happen if Palestinian security personnel turned their guns on Israel. At the time, Central Command officers were presenting an assessment of the situation in the West Bank, including riots involving extremist settlers, the damage caused by their actions and the resulting need to divert military forces. Netanyahu subsequently raised the issue in an interview, echoing warnings he and members of his government had made previously. The IDF clarified at the time that the scenario was familiar to the military and had already been included in exercises, but that it had no intelligence indicating the existence of an actual Palestinian plan to carry it out. At the same time, senior military officers warned that the situation in the West Bank was "getting out of control," while security officials cautioned political leaders that the territory was "on the verge of exploding" because of the growing number of incidents of nationalist violence committed by extremist settlers. Netanyahu toured the security barrier Tuesday alongside Defense Minister Israel Katz, the head of the National Security Council and the commander of the IDF's Central Command. According to the Prime Minister's Office, commanders from the IDF, Shin Bet and Border Police briefed Netanyahu on efforts to protect Israeli communities along the barrier, as well as extensive operations in nearby Palestinian villages. The Prime Minister's Office said the operations included efforts carried out day and night to arrest terrorists, confiscate weapons and address potential threats originating from those areas. Speaking near Tulkarm, Netanyahu said the military had presented him and Katz with a forceful operational plan. "The IDF has presented me and the defense minister with a powerful, robust plan," Netanyahu said. "In such a scenario, I wouldn't advise our enemies to test us. You will encounter a level of force here that you never imagined." He added: "We will continue to safeguard Israel's security here, along the security barrier and everywhere. We are establishing communities here, more than 104 of them, and many farms. We are safeguarding the security of the State of Israel." The scenario Netanyahu referred to as "turning the guns around" involves members of the Palestinian Authority's security forces using their weapons against Israeli communities or IDF soldiers. The Palestinian security services legally possess thousands of firearms in the West Bank, with Israel's approval. Under the scenario discussed by Netanyahu, those weapons would instead be directed against Israeli targets. However, the IDF is not aware of any intelligence indicating that the Palestinian Authority is on the verge of carrying out such a dramatic shift. Nevertheless, as Zamir explained in response to Netanyahu during the Central Command briefing approximately six weeks ago, the military is unwilling to take chances. Even without intelligence pointing to an imminent move by Palestinian security forces, the IDF is preparing for the most extreme scenario.