Netanyahu: Israel no more at fault for terror than France

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says “the time has come” for the world to condemn terror attacks against Jews in Israel as it does the attacks that took place Friday night in Paris.

At the cabinet meeting Sunday, Netanyahu also updates ministers with the news that the “despicable terrorist who murdered Yaakov and Netanel Litman” was caught by security forces.

“Yesterday I spoke with the wife [of Ya’akov] and mother [of Netanel], Noa, and told her the entire nation aches in the double tragedy she and her children suffered. We will bring the killer to justice and continue to fight terrorism,” he vows. The father and son were killed in a shooting attack Friday near the West Bank settlement of Otniel.

“Now, hours after the murder in Otniel, terrorists went on a ruthless terror attack in Paris and murdered innocents,” he says. “In Israel, as in France, terrorism is terrorism, and the force standing behind it is radical Islam and its wish to destroy its victims.

“It is time for states to condemn terrorism against us like they condemn terrorism anywhere else in the world. It is appropriate that [Palestinian Authority President] Mahmoud Abbas, who condemned yesterday the attack in France, will condemn the cruel terrorism against innocents in Israel and fight the incitement fueling it,” Netanyahu says.

The prime minister says Israelis should remember “we are not at fault for the terrorism directed at us just as the French are not at fault for the terrorism directed at them. Those who are at fault for terrorism are the terrorists. Not the territories, not the settlements nor any other factor – it is the will to destroy us that keeps the conflict alive and motivates murderous aggression against us.”