Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday while touring the scene of last week’s terror attack at the Givat Assaf junction that it’s “only a matter of time until the murderer is found.”
Less than 24 hours after the Knesset voted to formalize Netanyahu’s appointment as Israel’s permanent Minister of Defense, he held a security assessment at IDF Judea and Samaria division headquarters in the Binyamin Regional Council district with IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Gadi Eizenkot, GOC Central Command Maj.-Gen. Nadav Padan, IDF. Judea and Samaria Division commander Brig.-Gen. Eran Niv and other senior commanders.
Netanyahu was briefed on the ongoing military counter terrorism and community defense operations in Judea and Samaria. He also spoke with area brigade and battalion commanders as well.
“Over the weekend there were 100 arrests and yesterday there were 36,” he said while touring the Givat Assaf junction, where seven Israelis were shot, including a pregnant mother whose premature baby was later born and died as a result of the Dec. 9 terror attack.
“It is only a matter of time until we also find this murderer, as we found the others, and we will settle accounts with him as we did with the others. Palestinian terrorism will not uproot us from here. This place is the heart of our homeland.
“We will strengthen settlement even more, just as we have done now,” he promised, adding the government would “take all steps against terrorism, including additional steps. We will not tolerate terrorism from Gaza or from Judea and Samaria. We will hit it hard,” Netanyahu said.
“I would like to commend here the settler public for showing resilience and steadfastness in the face of this murderous terrorism, and praise the IDF commanders and soldiers who are guarding every citizen, around the clock, seven days a week.”