Netanyahu to Kerry: Palestinian Authority's wild incitement causing wave of terror

Kerry told Netanyahu that Washington was aware that Israel had no intention of changing the status quo in Jerusalem's holy places.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
Updated: OCTOBER 10, 2015 17:43
US Secretary of State John Kerry (L) and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meet in New York (photo credit: AVI OHAYON - GPO)
US Secretary of State John Kerry (L) and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meet in New York
(photo credit: AVI OHAYON - GPO)
It is incumbent on the Palestinian Authority to cease its "wild incitement" against Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told US Secretary of State John Kerry by phone on Saturday shortly after a Palestinian assailant allegedly stabbed three Border Police officers near Damascus Gate in Jerusalem's Old City, the second such attack in Israel's capital in the past few hours.
The premier told Kerry that the PA's campaign of incitement "was causing this wave of terrorism."
Kerry told Netanyahu that Washington was aware that Israel had no intention of changing the status quo in Jerusalem's holy places.
The phone conversation came one day after a US official told The Jerusalem Post that the Obama administration viewed the recent wave of violence sweeping Israel as "terrorism."
A State Department official had previously told the Post the administration would refrain from using the term pending a full investigation of the attacks. But the tempo of violence only increased in recent days, with over fifteen attempted or successful stabbings and shootings of Israelis by Palestinians across the country and throughout the West Bank.
One attack perpetrated by an Jewish Israeli against four Arab Israelis also occurred in Dimona earlier on Friday, raising the specter of revenge strikes and vigilantism. Israeli officials warned against such actions in a press conference on Thursday evening.
The White House is "deeply concerned" by the terror wave, a senior official told the Post earlier in the week. Obama administration officials are in contact with their Israeli and Palestinian counterparts in an effort to lower tensions and control the situation.
Michael Wilner contributed to this report.