“Last week I traveled to Jordan and held a very important meeting in Amman with King Abdullah and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. Together, we called to calm the situation and for the restoration of quiet. To my regret, the answer that we received from the Palestinian Authority was to declare a day or rage in Jerusalem. And today we all saw the result.
“The world sees this slaughter but, to our regret, does not demand that the Palestinians stop the wild incitement against Israel that is the root of the conflict. I call on all heads of state in the civilized world – I want to see outrage. I want to see condemnation, a deep and uncompromising condemnation of these murders of Israelis, of Jews. Do not discriminate between blood and blood.
“When there are other acts of murder you express the same outrage and condemn them. But when I see a three-month-old baby being murdered, when I see these Jews at prayer in a synagogue, our holy place, just as a church is holy for Christians and a mosque is holy for Muslims, I expect to at least hear the same condemnation, in an uncompromising and unreserved tone.
“To my regret, there are those who currently insist on giving the Palestinians a prize in the form of unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state that does not recognize the state of the Jews. We will not tolerate this reality; we will fight terrorism and we will defeat it. We will restore law, order and security to the streets of Jerusalem.
“This evening I ordered the demolition of the homes of the terrorists who perpetrated the massacre and the hastening of the demolition of the homes of the terrorists who perpetrated the earlier attacks. I ordered stepped-up enforcement against – and stiffer punishments for – those engaged in incitement, as well as the banning of organizations engaged in incitement, and increased security on the streets of Jerusalem. Alongside offensive actions there are also defensive actions.
“Citizens of Israel, I call on you to show maximum alert and to respect the law. As a state, we will settle accounts with all of the terrorists and those who dispatched them. We have already proven that we do this, but let nobody take the law into his hands, even if tempers flare and blood boils. We are in a lengthy war against abhorrent terrorism which did not start today. Terrorism has followed us through all the years of the Zionist enterprise. We have always withstood it and we will do so this time as well.
“There are those who would like to uproot us from our land and from our capital. They will not achieve their aim. We are in a battle for Jerusalem, our eternal capital. In this battle we must be united; this is the order of the day.
“We have always known to unite in times of trial. We must put aside all of the little differences and unite around one major issue – defending Jerusalem, defending the security of Israel’s citizens. I think that this is what the citizens of Israel expect of us at this time – to stand together as one, unified and united. What is called for at this time is national unity.”
