Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Schools Kerry: ‘You Have to Fight Terror’

By The Editors Published on October 2, 2015

A day after his powerful address to the United Nations General Assembly, and the murder of an Israeli settlement couple by Palestinian gunmen, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had a stern word for the Palestinian Authority. And for Secretary of State John Kerry.

“You have to fight terror.”

Back up a few days. On Wednesday, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas declared before the U.N. that his people are no longer bound by mutual agreements with Israel, including the Oslo Peace Accords. On Thursday, Netanyahu delivered his speech, which included 44 seconds of stone cold silence symbolizing the silence of the U.N. in the face of Iran’s threats to annihilate the Jewish people.

Kerry and U.N. Ambassador Stephanie Powers missed the speech. They were called out by President Obama. The official story line is our two top diplomats were needed in a video-conference. But the absence was widely seen as another deliberate slap at Israel by the White House.

Around the same time, gunmen in the West Bank opened fire on a car carrying Israeli couple Eitam and Na’ama Henkin and their four children. Eitam and Na’ama were killed. A group affiliated with the armed wing of Abbas’s ruling Fatah party claimed responsibility. Hamas along with other Palestinians celebrated the attack.

Friday, Kerry and Netanyahu met in New York. But when Kerry offered, “We’re sharing with you the grief that Israel feels today,” and diplomatic platitudes about “efforts going forward,” Netanyahu was in no mood. The transcript below only hints at Netanyahu’s tone. Watch:

Said Netanyahu:

Any path forward requires one thing. You have to fight terror. When terrorists are there, the fanaticism, the zealotry is there and we have no choice but to fight them. But, when we hear excitement that, worse when we hear praise for the terrorists from our supposed peace partners we say cut that out, start fighting terrorism. If you won’t, we will. But, that’s the call the international community must place on the Palestinian Authority.

But, I want to make it clear. We’re going to fight these terrorists and we’re going to fight them in ways that they will understand makes terrorism not worth of its actions and not garner any rewards.

 

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