Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared Jerusalem’s resolve to settle accounts with Palestinian assailants responsible for acts of terror against Israelis. After receiving a security briefing on ongoing “counter-terrorism and community defense operations” by the IDF forces in the West Bank, the Prime Minister visited the Givat Asaf junction, where a terrorist attack on December 9th claimed the lives of two IDF soldiers while critically injuring another, as well as an Israeli civilian. In a brief statement to the press at the site of the deadly attack, Prime Minister Netanyahu vowed to locate and settle accounts with the “murderer,” in the same way that was done with two out of the three assailants responsible for separate acts of terror over the past month. In his words, “Over the weekend there were 100 arrests and yesterday there were 36. 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.” The Israeli leader also stressed that contrary to the belief of Palestinian terrorists, violence will not uproot Israel from Judea and Samaria, the two major districts that constitute the West Bank. In contrast, Netanyahu emphasized, every act of terror will step up Jerusalem’s resolve to protect the heart of Israel’s homeland; by saying: “Palestinian terrorism thinks it will uproot us from here. They won’t uproot us from here. This place is the heart of our homeland. We will strengthen settlement even more, just as we have done now. And we will take all steps against terrorism, including additional steps. We will not tolerate terrorism from Gaza or from Judea and Samaria (West Bank). We will hit it hard.”
