Netanyhau after Jerusalem bus explosion: We will settle accounts with terrorists

Rivlin, Odeh also condemn suspected attack.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
Updated: APRIL 18, 2016 23:38
Photo of scene of possible bus explosion in Jerusalem, April 18, 2016 (photo credit: MEDABRIM TIKSHORET)
Photo of scene of possible bus explosion in Jerusalem, April 18, 2016
(photo credit: MEDABRIM TIKSHORET)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu informed a stunned crowd of the suspected Jerusalem bus bombing during a speech he delivered in Binyamina on Monday evening marking 85 years to the founding of the Irgun.
“We will find whoever prepared and dispatched the explosives, as well as those who helped them,” he said. “We will settle accounts with those terrorists.”  
Police confirmed that a bus explosion in the industrial area of Jerusalem’s Talpiot neighborhood early Monday evening that wounded 21 people, including one critically, was the result of a bomb, but still stopped short of declaring it a terrorist attack.
President Reuven Rivlin offered his prayers for those wounded in the incident. He referred to the IDF's uncovering in the morning of a tunnel leading from the Gaza Strip into Israeli territory. 
"On a day like this when in the morning, our dedicated security forces uncover a tunnel of destruction in the South and then in the evening shocked civilians are taken to the hospital at the end of a routine day, it is clear to everyone that our fight against terror will not end. We will chase and catch any person that seeks to do us harm until quiet is achieved," Rivlin said.
Head of the Joint List Ayman Odeh condemned the attack as well but he also attacked Netanyahu.
"I forcefully condemn the explosion today in Jerusalem in which many civilians were wounded. Harming civilians is unacceptable and it also harms the just Palestinian struggle to end the occupation," Odeh said. 
"The Netanyahu government feeds the cycle of violence, and is fed by it. Desperation is the fertile ground for terror and only a diplomatic settlement will bring security to the two nations," he added.   
Herb Keinon and Daniel K. Eisenbud contributed to this report.