Israel demands Abbas censure over murders
Four children orphaned by attack on settlers
• Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday demanded that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his government explicitly condemn the murder of an Israeli settler couple by suspected Palestinian gunmen in the West Bank.
Meeting Secretary of State John Kerry in New York on Friday, Netanyahu said he appreciated U.S. condemnation of Thursday’s attack and noted that some Palestinians had praised the killing, which left four young children orphaned. He said the only way to deal with incidents like it is to fight terrorism, and he called on the international community to press Abbas and the Palestinian Authority to act.
Israel’s military deployed hundreds of troops in the West Bank Friday.
The attack took place late Thursday when gunmen opened fire at a vehicle travelling near the Palestinian village of Beit Furik. The shots killed Eitam and Naama Henkin, residents of the Jewish West Bank settlement of Neria. Their four young children, including a four-month old infant, were in the back seat of the car, but were unharmed.
On Friday, Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon visited the site, pledging to catch the perpetrators and, like other Israeli politicians, blaming Abbas for inciting such violence.
Thousands attended the parents’ funeral on Friday in Jerusalem, including Israeli President Reuven Rivlin.
“We cannot stand silently when the hands of murderers steal a loving mother and father away from their children,” Rivilin said in a eulogy. “We are facing a brutal terrorist onslaught.”
The attack comes on the heels of a series of Palestinian rock and firebomb attacks that have prompted Israel to vow to quash such threats.
It also followed a hard-line speech at the United Nations by Abbas, the last of several that Israeli leaders have condemned as incitement. Abbas has said that Israelis desecrate a Jerusalem holy site with their “dirty feet” and charged that Israel was committed to the “ethnic cleansing” of his people.
Speaking before the UN General Assembly, Abbas said Israel had repeatedly violated its commitments, most notably by expanding settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, on lands the Palestinians seek for a future state, and accused Israel of waging “a new war of genocide ... against the Palestinian people.”
“A people whose leader encourages murder will never have a state and this must be stated clearly,” said Cabinet minister Naftali Bennett, head of the pro-settler Jewish Home party.
Settler leaders said they planned to stage a protest in front of Netanyahu’s office to demand tougher action to defend the settlers.
Gaza’s Islamic Hamas rulers welcomed Thursday’s attack but stopped short of claiming responsibility for it. Abbas’ Palestinian Authority did not comment on the attack.