Netanyahu: Israel will be proactive in thwarting attacks from Syria

IDF thwarted infiltration attempt in Friday’s incident on the Golan Heights where two gunmen were killed trying to sabotage the border fence.

By HERB KEINON
Benjamin Netanyahu attends the weekly cabinet meeting at his office in Jerusalem March 23, 2014. (photo credit: REUTERS)
Benjamin Netanyahu attends the weekly cabinet meeting at his office in Jerusalem March 23, 2014.
(photo credit: REUTERS)
Israel will continue to take the initiative in stopping attacks from Syria, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Sunday.
Netanyahu, referring to Friday’s incident on the Golan Heights where the IDF killed two armed gunmen trying to sabotage the border fence with Syria, said the IDF “thwarted an attempt to infiltrate the border and hit people trying to get close to the fence.”
“We will continue to respond to every effort to attack us, and – to the best of our ability, and as part of our policy of initiating action – we will thwart these attacks before they can take place,” he said. “That is the essence of our policy, and it works and is showing results.”
Over the last month Netanyahu has repeated this policy a number of times, following both rocket and missile attacks coming from Gaza and following sporadic incidents along the Golan border as well.
Turning from security to the economy, Netanyahu noted in the cabinet that over the weekend Israel received an A+ credit rating from Standard & Poor’s, saying that this was a sign that the economy was in good shape.
During the cabinet meeting, the prime minister also made mention of the tenth anniversary of the Masa Israel Journey organization, which has brought some 86,000 Jewish youth aged 18-30 to Israel over the last decade on five-to-10- month work, study and internship programs. Netanyahu met with a number of the participants before the cabinet meeting.