Netanyahu: Israelis Fiercely Reject All Terror (Even by Jews), While Palestinians Encourage It

PM Netanyahu said there was no room for comparison between Jewish and Palestinian acts of terror, which defer in magnitude. More importantly, Israelis fiercely reject terror while Palestinians embrace it.  

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned all acts of terrorism, whether committed by Jews or Palestinians, while saying there was a distinct difference between the two – the Israeli public shuns terrorism, while the Palestinian society embraces and lauds it.

Wanting to draw a distinction between the two sources of terrorism, the premier said at the beginning of the weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday that “[Arab] terrorism is much greater in magnitude; there is no comparison.”

He was relating to the arson incident in the Palestinian village of Duma, in which Jewish terrorists allegedly burned members of a Palestinian family to death. Conversely, Israel has been facing daily Palestinian terror attacks, five of them on Sunday alone.

Of greater significance, “the government here, and our public, and all bodies and all leaders come out against phenomena of Jewish terrorism,” Netanyahu said. “We condemn, they praise. In the Palestinian Authority, public squares and streets are named after them. They pay them salaries.”

“There is a great difference between Israeli society’s and Israeli democracy’s healthy approach, which disavows, condemns and takes action against terrorism, and the Palestinian Authority which, I regret, encourages and incites terrorism,” he stressed.

“I suggest that these distinctions be maintained even as we fight terrorism and inciters of whatever kind.”

There have been attempts by leaders to downplay or even disregard Palestinian terrorism, which is driven by incitement and hatred fanned by the Palestinian leadership, and which has claimed 23 victims and wounded over 230 in the past three months.

By: Max Gelber, United with Israel