Sunday, January 10, 2010

PM Netanyahu: Israel will react strongly to verbal and physical attacks

(JPOST).Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Sunday opened the weekly cabinet meeting with a warning for terrorists and those who incite to violence against Israel, vowing to respond decisively and strongly to any attack.

Twenty rockets and mortar shells were fired at Israel from Gaza this past week, Netanyahu told the cabinet ministers.

"Last week 20 rockets and mortar rounds were fired at Israel from the Gaza Strip. I regard this very seriously. The IDF responded immediately; it attacked missile producing factories in the Gaza Strip and tunnels through which Iran smuggles missiles and rockets into the Strip. The Government's policy is clear: Any firing at our territory will be responded to strongly and immediately".

"It is not only missiles and rockets that endanger security and push peace further off. Words can also be dangerous. Sadly, there has been a retreat in this area in recent months, both within the Palestinian Authority and by its leaders. Whoever sponsors and supports naming a square in Ramallah after a terrorist who murdered dozens of Israelis on the coastal road – encourages terrorism. Whoever declares those responsible for the murder of the late Rabbi Meir Avshalom Hai, father to seven children, as holy martyrs – pushes peace further away.

Netanyahu stressed that doing away with incitement was necessary for the two peoples to achieve true peace. He explained that the glorification of female terrorist Dalal al-Maghrabi, one of the perpetrators of the 1978 Coastal Road Massacre in which 38 Israeli civilians were killed, could only serve to incite to more violence.

"Peace is achieved by education for reconciliation, by encouraging good neighborly relations and promoting mutual respect," he concluded.