Hotovely blames Jerusalem terror attacks on incitement from PA

Deputy transportation minister were caused by PA media coverage of Israel's Gaza operation.

By GIL STERN STERN HOFFMAN
Bus flipped by tractor in Jerusalem terror attack (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
Bus flipped by tractor in Jerusalem terror attack
(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
The Palestinian Authority and its leadership are to blame for Monday’s excavator and shooting attacks in Jerusalem, Deputy Transportation Minister Tzipi Hotovely (Likud) says.
Hotovely, who is in charge of the fight against traffic accidents, said the attacks were caused by the PA media’s attacks on Israel.
“The PA is operating a well-funded incitement effort against Israel,” she said. “We must place our cards on the table and say that under the guise of moderation, the PA is encouraging terrorism, and therefore, it is responsible.”
Hotovely’s Likud colleague, Deputy Minister for Liaison with the Knesset Ophir Akunis, also blamed the PA, which he called a government of terror.
“It is now clear as day that the deterioration in our region, the escalation of terrorism, and the attacks are the direct result of Abbas accepting Hamas into his government,” Akunis said. “A government that accepts a vile terrorist organization as a member gives a green light and encourages terrorism. Abbas is responsible for forming the government, so he should dismantle it.”
The Knesset’s Land of Israel Caucus, chaired by MKs Yariv Levin (Likud) and Orit Struck (Bayit Yehudi), called for the homes of the terrorists who committed the attacks to be destroyed immediately. A spokesman for the caucus said that measures against terrorism that passed in the security cabinet following the June 12 kidnapping of three Israeli teens had not been implemented and now should be.
On the Left, Meretz chairman Zehava Gal-On issued her harshest criticism to date of Operation Protective Edge. She said Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his government were responsible for what she called a failure.
“The failure is not expressed in the operation not achieving its military goals but in preferring solely the option of force and not the diplomatic option,” Gal-On wrote on her Facebook page. “It is a failure because the only thing it guarantees is another round of escalation in a year or two. Nothing has changed with this operation.
Hamas had nothing to lose before this round, and it won’t have anything to lose in the next.”