Itongadol.- Within hours of the police announcement that Jews were arrested for the killing of Muhammad Abu Khdeir, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu unequivocally condemned the murders Sunday evening that there was no place “for those kind of murderers in Israeli society.”
Speaking during a visit to the home of the parents of Naftali Fraenkel, one of the Israeli teens kidnapped and murdered last week, Netanyahu said that Israel will punish the murderers. “That is how we are different from our neighbors,” he said. “Their murderers are hailed as heroes and public squares are named in their honor.”
Netanyahu called on all sides to “show responsibility” and not inflame the situation.
Referring to Jewish hate crimes against Arabs, Netanyahu said the “we are opposed to \’price tag attacks.\’ In the same way, he said in a reference to the recent days of Israeli Arab rioting, “we are opposed to petrol bombs, rock-throwing, and blocking roads.
“Just as I condemn calls of \’Death to Arabs,” I also condemn calls of “Death to Jews,” he said.
Netanyahu said that Israel\’s strength rested in the fact that it is a nation based on law. “Murder is murder, and incitement is incitement – and we will treat both with severity. I do not distinguish between terror and terror, nor between incitement and incitement.”
Netanyahu praised the police for rapidly solving the murder, and pointed out that he directed the police to give preference to finding the killers.” In parallel, he said, the police also solved the murder of Shelly Dadon in Migdal Haemek, and “the suspect in that murder will also be brought to justice.”