Netanyahu: Israel will 'respond decisively' to murder of Jews in synagogue terror attack

PM, FM Liberman blame deadly attack on Abbas, Palestinian incitement ignored by world.

By HERB KEINON, TOVAH LAZAROFF, YAAKOV LAPPIN
Binyamin Netanyahu (photo credit: REUTERS)
Binyamin Netanyahu
(photo credit: REUTERS)
Tuesday's murderous attack in Jerusalem is a direct result of incitement led by Hamas, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and irresponsibly ignored by the international community, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in his initial reaction to the Har Nof terrorist attack.
“We will respond decisively to the horrific murder of Jews who came to pray and were killed by despicable murderers,” he said.
Netanyahu will convene Tuesday afternoon emergency security consultations.
Shortly after the murderous attack on a Jerusalem synagogue, Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman charged Abbas of intentionally turning the Arab-Israeli conflict into a religious one between Muslims and Jews.
The foreign minister said Abbas was doing this through wild incitement, including characterizing Jews as “impure” and unable to go up to the Temple Mount, which gives the green light for these types of attacks.
“The international community must denounce the anti-Semitic words of Abu-Mazen [Abbas] that leads to horrible acts of slaughter like that carried out this morning in a synagogue, and make it clear to him that those who act in this way cannot be a legitimate statesman,” he said.
Responding to the terror attack in Jerusalem, Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon vowed to strike down terrorism.
"We will fight it with determination, and we will not allow anyone to disrupt our lives and harm us. We will pursue those carrying out the attacks and those who send them in every place, in every way, inside the borders of Israel and outside of them," Ya'alon said.
Terrorists are fed by institutionalized propaganda spread by the PA and Abbas, encouraged by text books, media, speeches filled with likes "that spread an unprecedented level of hatred," the defense minister added.
He continued by saying terrorists also receive support, funding, and assistance from radical Islamic movements, first and foremost, Hamas.
Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz also blamed Abbas for the terror attack carried out by axe and gun-wielding assailants.
"The hands that held the axes were those of the terrorists, but the voice is that of Abu Mazen [Abbas]," charged Steinitz.
"Whoever calls for Muslims to defend Al-Aksa Mosque by all means against the Jews - was directly responsible for the horrible pogrom at the synagogue in Har Nof, and the wave of attacks and bloody riots in Jerusalem," he added.
Meanwhile, Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch called on Jewish residents of the city not to seek revenge for the attack and to allow the police to do their job.
“We are not in an easy period, a period of terror attacks. I can not promise that there won’t be another terror attack, but I can I promise we are doing everything we can to prevent it.
“But we can not be everyone,” he said.
He refused to call it an intifada, but rather a period of terror attacks.
Jpost.com Staff contributed to this report.