Netanyahu: We aren't responsible for the terror against us, just like the French
Prime minister links attacks in West Bank and Paris, says extremist Islam is driving force behind both.
By TOVAH LAZAROFFUpdated: NOVEMBER 16, 2015 01:26Netanyahu speaks at cabinet meeting 15.11
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on the international community to condemn Friday’s terrorist attack in the South Hebron Hills with the same force that it has spoken out against the attacks in Paris.“In Israel, as in France, terrorism is terrorism and standing behind it is radical Islam and its desire to destroy its victims,” Netanyahu said before the start of the weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday.“The time has come for the world to wake up and unite in order to defeat terrorism. The time has come for countries to condemn terrorism against us to the same degree that they condemn terrorism everywhere else in the world,” he said.For the second day in a row, he drew a direct link between the Parisian attacks by ISISlinked terrorists that killed 129 on Friday and an incident in the West Bank’s South Hebron Hills where Palestinians shot and killed Yaakov Litman, 40, and his son Netanel, 18, as they drove with five other family members.“The reprehensible terrorist who murdered Yaakov Litman and his son Netanel last Friday has been apprehended by the security forces. He belongs to Islamic Jihad,” Netanyahu said.As he had done on Saturday night, Netanyahu called on Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to condemn the South Hebron Hills killings, as well as other terrorist attacks against Israelis.“It would be proper for Abu Mazen [Abbas], who condemned the attack in France yesterday, to condemn ruthless terrorism against innocent people in Israel and fight the incitement that motivates it,” Netanyahu said.He urged the international community against a “blame the victim” philosophy when it comes to Israel.“We are not to blame for the terrorism directed against us, just as the French are not to blame for the terrorism directed against them.“It is the terrorists who are to blame for terrorism, not the territories, not the settlements and not any other thing,” he said.
“The terrorists who attack us have the same murderous intent as those in Paris,” Netanyahu said.He explained to the cabinet that he had personally called Litman’s wife, Noa, to express his condolences and to promise her that those who killed her husband would be “dealt with to the fullest extent of the law.”The IDF, he said, has an aggressive policy against terrorism that includes demolition of terrorists’ homes and preventative measures against the infrastructure of terrorism.“We succeed many times in frustrating and preventing more serious disasters,” he said.