Following Tel Aviv attack, Herzog calls for war on terror

Bennett says Israel must stop funding Abbas because "the terrorists are his emissaries."

By LAHAV HARKOV
Passerby stand behind a police tape at the scene of a stabbing attack in Tel Aviv, January 21, 2015 (photo credit: REUTERS)
Passerby stand behind a police tape at the scene of a stabbing attack in Tel Aviv, January 21, 2015
(photo credit: REUTERS)
Terrorism must be fought with determination, Labor leader Isaac Herzog said on Wednesday, after a Palestinian man stabbed passengers on a Tel Aviv bus.
“Israeli citizens do not feel secure today, not by the Gaza border and not in Tel Aviv,” Herzog wrote on Facebook.
“That reality must change.”
A gap between declarations and slogans about security on the one hand, and Israelis’ precarious sense of security on the other, is intolerable, the Labor Party chairman said.
“We will change this with determined and assertive action toward terrorist organizations and their heads,” he wrote.
Herzog expressed support for the IDF, Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) and police in an “uncompromising war on terrorism, in any place where there is a threat to Israelis,” and wished a speedy recovery to the victims of the attack.
Hatnua chairwoman Tzipi Livni said that “Israeli citizens deserve to live safely in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and near the Gaza border – everywhere in Israel and outside of it.
“It should be clear that in the war on terror there are no compromises. Terrorism is not dealt with through negotiation, but through force and more force and more force.
We must and can stop the escalation,” she said.
Livni called to strike terrorism while increasing intelligence and security cooperation with the Palestinians and enlisting the world to the battle against terrorism and for Israel’s defense.
According to Economy Minister Naftali Bennett, the chairman of Bayit Yehudi, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is to blame for the stabbing.
“The person who is responsible for the terrorist attack in Tel Aviv is the same man who was seen marching with world leaders just a week ago in Paris,” Bennett said.
“When Abbas incites against Jews on TV day and night, when Abbas names town squares after murderers and gives monetary prizes to those who murder Jews, he is turning himself into a knife dealer and the terrorists are his emissaries.”
Bennett called for the government to stop the flow of money to “the terrorist Abbas” as long as he continues funding terrorists’ families.
“Words are not enough,” he said.
Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Yariv Levin (Likud) said the attack is another reminder that Israel is in a continuing battle and that terrorist organizations continue to plan attacks and attempt to enact them.
“Terrorist organizations are not on an election recess,” unlike the Knesset, Levin said.
“We will continue to fight them freely even at this time, responsibly and with a clear message to the other side that we are ready to defend our citizens and to settle accounts with those who seek to harm us.”
Meretz chairwoman Zehava Gal-On called the stabbings “an awful attack against innocent people on the way to work,” and wished the victims a speedy recovery.
“We must use all means necessary to prevent the next terrorist attack,” she said. “I call on all politicians not to incite or heat things up for cynical campaign needs. The only way to deal with terrorism is to deal with what motivates it.”
MK Dov Henin (Hadash) asked: “Will we always live by our sword here, or is there another, more sane and humane option? Our challenge is to break the horrible cycle of blood and not continue it any longer.”
The Right’s way has failed, and it is trying to cover it up with incitement, by blaming the PA and Israeli Arabs, he said.
“What we really need here is the opposite, a policy of reconciliation, justice and independence for two nations, instead of occupation, hatred and eternal war,” Henin said.