Take no chances with knives

A stabbing terrorist who puts down his knife before he is shot, lifts up his hands and surrenders, will be arrested and taken to jail. Not hurt. Jew and Arab alike. But not a moment before that surrender.

And as long as he leaves behind a Jewish person bleeding, or God forbid, dead; and as long as the knife is still in his hand and a murderous glint in his eye -- he should be shot. A still photograph could not reveal whether he intends to harm another victim. The Jewish people have learned from the Talmud that "if someone rises to kill you, rise against him and kill him first," as well as the version of the law that appears to focus more on intended attacks: "If someone has come to kill you, rise against him and kill him first." Both versions are valid. This is the logic from which the right to self-defense stems, certainly after an attacker has already begun to carry out his murderous terror.

It is also the logic upon which farmer Shai Dromi operated in 2007, when he shot and killed one of the intruders on his property in the middle of the night. In the darkness, he couldn't have known if they were carrying weapons, or if they would have attacked him had he shouted at them to stop, and so his worry and fear grew and he fired his gun. The law was then changed to legitimize self-defense carried out against intruders with criminal intent.

The same is true in the case of terrorist Asraa Abed from Nazareth, who was shot in the lower body by security forces in Afula on Friday after attempting to stab soldiers and then refusing to put down her knife. No one could have known if she was in her right mind. After she pulled out the knife to stab a soldier, refused to put it down and refused to surrender, shooting at her, even from close range, was the right thing to do as there was no way to know if her apparent weakness was just another ploy to allow her to continue attacking the Jewish enemy.

There is no need to take chances with someone brandishing a knife. If Israeli Arabs want to take part in political protests in favor of a diplomatic solution of one sort or another -- go ahead. If they intend to challenge the duty of security forces to protect civilians, Jews and Arabs alike, from terrorism -- they are harming the delicate fabric of the positive relationship between the two populations within the Green Line.

They can, of course, identify with terrorism, but cannot claim in the same breath that they are the bridge to peace. And they can identify with people who take the law into their own hands to kill and maim Jews -- but they cannot try to use the law to defend these criminals.

This war will not stop. There are even more security forces now spread throughout the country. We must not and do not need to limit freedom of movement for Arabs in Israel and Palestinians in the territories, but as one of my senior colleagues put it, security forces are establishing a human "Iron Dome" of soldiers who are prepared to respond quickly with effective fire to all stabbing attempts, and they are doing so successfully.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon and former IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. (res.) Benny Gantz acted with appropriate balance during Operation Protective Edge. And that same balance -- now with IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot -- has been put into practice again in stopping this wave of terrorism. Nothing more and nothing less is needed.