The terrorist murder of Rabbi Eitam Henkin and his wife Na’ama in front of their four children in Samaria Thursday night proves “Palestinians do not want peace,” Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely said in a statement.
The Likud minister drew a line from the attack straight to the Palestinian Authority’s abdication of its obligations under the Oslo Accords in a speech on Wednesday by Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas.
“Abbas is inciting and the on the ground they are incited, and this is how the murderous mechanism that motivates murderous terror attacks in Judea and Samaria works,” she said.
“This type of incident is more proof that the Palestinians do not want peace but rather hatred, not dialogue but rather incitement and hatred. I strengthen the hands of the security forces in their search after the lowly murderers.”
Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel, a member of the Bayit Yehudi party, drew a similar conclusion. “This murderous incident that leaves behind a family orphaned of its parents is an outcome and direct continuation of Abbas’s mask of lies at the UN yesterday,” he told journalists.
“The responsibility is his, and his alone, and he must give an accounting for it. The response to the awful murder must be the annexation of Area C, an expansion of the settlement in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria,” he said, calling for the myriad of blocs under full Israeli control in Judea and Samaria to be annexed.
Likewise, Likud’s Culture Minister Miri Regev noted that 24 hours after the speech by Abbas, “a husband and wife were murdered in Israel. In his every word, Abbas encourages the murder of Jews and permits their blood. He inherited the path of [Yasser] Arafat and continues his criminal way that snatches the lives of innocents,” she said.
Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon vowed in his statement to pursue and capture the terrorists.
“This murderous terror attack this evening is a clear continuation of the incitement against the State of Israel and its civilians, and repeated attempts to carry out terror attacks,” Ya’alon said.
“The war against terrorism requires determination from us, a steel hand, and patience. We are fighting against a bloodthirsty relentless enemy, and with great sorrow we sometimes absorb losses on the way,” he added.
“At this time, the IDF and the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) are pursuing the murderers. We will pursue them and we will not be silent until we place our hands on the murderers, and those who sent them.”