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Follow Us on TwitterMinisters say IDF soldier’s murder proves PA doesn’t want peace 24Sep13 September 24, 2013
Haaretz - 23 September 2013
Israeli ministers and politicians reacted to the killing of Israel Defense Forces soldier Tomer Hazan over the weekend, saying it proves that Palestinians have no intention of reaching a peace agreement with Israel.
“You don’t make peace with terrorists who throw the bodies of soldiers into a pit; you fight them mercilessly,” Economy Minister Naftali Bennett said.
Bennett went on to add that “Israel’s partner hasn’t changed” in the 20 years since the signing of the Oslo Accords. “The murder meant to free a terrorist, to free a soldier of Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas), once again shows who our partner is.”
Bennett also sent his condolences to Hazan’s family and praised Israel’s security forces and the Shin Bet for “the fast and effective work that prevented additional damage.”
Other ministers, largely from the right wing, echoed Bennett’s sentiments in statements and comments on their Facebook pages. Deputy Defense Minister Danny Danon, who recently called for the annulment of the Oslo Accords in a New York Times opinion piece, said the murder is the result of “ongoing incitement from the Palestinian leadership.”
He said that Abbas “encourages such shocking acts by making celebratory remarks about the current peace talks while continuing to pay stipends to jailed terrorists. Twenty years after Oslo, the Palestinians haven’t abandoned terror.”
MK Avigdor Liberman, chairman of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, also commented on Hazan’s murder, with a statement on his Facebook page.
“The murderer Nidal Amar comes from a family that is affiliated with Fatah, and several months ago Palestinian television even aired a sympathetic piece on the murderer’s terrorist brother, whom he wanted to release from prison in exchange for the soldier he kidnapped,” Lieberman wrote, adding that the entrance to the family home contains images of Palestinian leaders Mahmoud Abbas and Yasser Arafat.
“In light of all this, the fact that the Palestinian Authority or its senior members have not explicitly denounced the murder proves that the negotiations the Palestinians are conducting with Israel are only a tactical move, meant to improve their international standing and their goal is only to try and blame Israel. They have no real intention of reaching an agreement with Israel and continue to encourage and support the murder of Israelis.”
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