PLO representative to the US Ambassador Maen Rashid Areikat. Photo: Twitter.

Israel’s security forces have continued to operate against Palestinian terrorism in a manner that is necessary and appropriate, sources in the government and police told The Algemeiner on Tuesday.

These sources were responding to claims made on Twitter by a PA official that Israel has executed most of the Palestinians killed over the course of the past year with a new, deadlier type of ammunition.

Ambassador Maen Rashid Areikat, who has been the top PLO representative to the US since 2009, tweeted: “In 2015 alone, 179 Palestinians were killed by Israel, 85% were extra-judicially shot dead. Additionally, new type of lethal bullets detected.”

Reuters reporter Dan Williams responded by questioning Areikat further with a tweet of his own: “Please expand on your method for determining that 85% figure. Also, what is the new ammunition to which you refer?”

Israel Police foreign press spokesman Chief Inspector Micky Rosenfeld denied both accusations.

“Israel’s national police are on the front lines, facing Palestinian terrorism, including stabbings, shootings and car-rammings that we’ve experienced throughout 2015,” he told The Algemeiner. “In any attack where we can make arrests, we do. When our officers are in a life-threatening situation, they fire shots and then make arrests, but in certain cases, they have no choice but to open fire and kill the terrorists.”

Rosenfeld also asserted that the Israel Police “responds with the standard ammunition it has used for years. No new, supposedly more dangerous, bullets are being used whatsoever.”

Foreign Ministry Spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon went even further, not only refuting the bold assertions, but also going on the offensive.

“This isn’t first time we’re hearing such lies from the Palestinians and other groups,” he told The Algemeiner. “These are false claims. The IDF and other security forces act in order to protect the Israeli populace against the wave of murderous terrorism, whose source is in Palestinian incitement. In their ‘chutzpah,’ the Palestinians perpetually present the murderers as victims.”