Senior official urges Israelis to carry more guns following Fatah-Hamas accord

Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan has a unique response to the deal ending a decade of political, geographic and societal Palestinian divisions.

Illustrative photo of Israelis taking a shooting class in a Jerusalem gun shop, October 15, 2015. A number of Israeli leaders have called on citizens to arm themselves in response to a wave of Palestinian stabbing attacks, and the owner of this shop reported an increase in demand for personal weapons. (Yotam Ronen/Activestills.org)
Illustrative photo of Israelis taking a shooting class, October 15, 2015. (Yotam Ronen/Activestills.org)

The Israeli government’s response to the deal was among the tamest it has ever directed toward anything including the word Hamas, namely that Israel won’t conduct “diplomatic relations” with a Palestinian government including Hamas unless it fulfills half a dozen conditions.

Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan, however, took the cake with his prescription for how to cope with the reconciliation deal ending a decade of political and geographic Palestinian divisions: encouraging Israeli civilians to carry more guns.

According to a Ynet report, the comments were made at a dedication ceremony for a new firearms licensing center in Ramleh, outside of Tel Aviv. Right. Because if the strongest military in the Middle East — which has proven, time and again, that it can reign massive death destruction on the Islamic group — can’t deter Hamas, a few hundred handguns in the suburbs of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem will surely get the job done.