Jerusalem - Armed citizens and “smart profiling” were some of the techniques Jerusalem was employing to help abate the rising wave of terrorism hitting Israel over the last three month, Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat said during an interview on CNBC Tuesday.
“When we have a terror threat, we ask people to carry their guns,” Barkat told CNBC’s morning financial news program “Squawk Box,” during a trip to New York City this week.
“Usually we’re talking about officers, captains and up, from the Israeli army, which are well-trained [and] very responsible,” he said. “They know how to go to combat.”
Barkat added: “They’re sometimes better trained than the police. There’s no misuse of rifles and guns in Israel . On the contrary, they give extra measures [and] extra security. It’s exactly the opposite, I believe, [of] what is happening in the United States.”
Barkat’s visit comes on the heels of last week’s terror attack, in which Tashfeen Malik and Syed Rizwan Farook killed 14 people in San Bernardino, California.
The Jerusalem mayor added that about three percent of Israeli citizens are licensed to carry weapons, lower than the five percent of American citizens allowed to obtain concealed weapons permits, he noted.
“Smart” profiling was another tactic Jerusalem employs in helping identify radical elements within his city, Barkat said, adding that members from all major religious sects in Jerusalem were subjected to the same scrutiny.
You have to differentiate between the ‘good guys’ and the ‘bad guys,” Barkat said, adding, “We will always prefer to save lives,” even if some of the tactics temporarily restrict personal freedoms.
“You must differentiate between those folks and a small percentage of radical Islamic people that are inciting the teenagers,” he said. “There is also some profiling of the radical Jewish population.”
“People want to live together in our city. We will not let radical Islam or other radicals deter our way of life,” the mayor added.
