Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas encourages terrorism, Economy Minister Naftali Bennett said after the vehicular attack in Jerusalem Wednesday.

Naftali Bennett. – Photo:MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST

“[Abbas] is the driver in the car of death in Jerusalem and the terrorists are his emissaries,” Bennett declared. “The State of Israel must say clearly that the Fatah-Hamas government is a terrorist authority and we must treat it as such.”

The Bayit Yehudi leader pointed out that there is no Iron Dome defense system against drivers.

“Israeli citizens cannot live without deterrence and sovereignty in their capital. Our security is not a luxury,” he stated.

Construction and Housing Minister Uri Ariel said “Arab terrorism in Jerusalem is growing. Whoever does not fight terrorism when it is small is inviting the next attack.”

Ariel called for Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to change strategies and heavily punish all displays of violence.

“Only strong deterrence will prevent the next terrorist attack,” Ariel stated.

Deputy Transportation Minister Tzipi Hotovely (Likud) said the attack showed that Israel is losing sovereignty over Jerusalem.

“A government that gives up control over the Temple Mount is allowing terrorism to raise its head in Jerusalem. The fight for Jerusalem must go up a level. Jerusalem is under attack and trying to bring calm only shows weakness,” she stated.

Deputy Education Minister Avi Wortzman said the terrorist attacks “dealt a fatal blow to Israel’s sovereignty.

“It cannot be that residents of Jerusalem cannot live safely. Public Security Minister [Yitzhak Aharonovich] must act with determination to stop the intifada that began in the capital,” he stated.

MK Alex Miller (Yisrael Beytenu) posited that incitement by Arab MKs like Haneen Zoabi (Balad) is to blame for the wave of vehicular terrorist attacks in Jerusalem.

“This is a direct result of the continuing incitement by the hater of Israel Haneen Zoabi, who preaches against the country from which she makes a living,” Miller stated.  “Just as security forces know how to take care of terrorists, we must take care of those who encourage terrorism in the sharpest, harshest way possible.”

According to Miller, “as long as Zoabi and her extremist friends are in the Knesset and take advantage of Israeli democracy, crazy incitement against our country will continue.”

Knesset Finance Committee chairman Nissan Slomiansky (Bayit Yehudi) said for external political reasons, decision-makers still are not allowing security forces to do what is necessary to protect Jerusalem.

“If we don’t give security forces the exclusive authority to take care of the phenomenon, we will continue living in a reality in which terrorist attacks are part of our routine,” he stated.

Knesset Interior Committee chairwoman Miri Regev (Likud) praised police for shooting the terrorist and said it is clear that the security situation in Jerusalem requires an iron fist against terrorism.

Regev expressed confidence that increased police stationed in Jerusalem and the new punishments for rock-throwers will bring results, show Israel has rule of law and bring security and quiet back to the capital.

However, MK Shuli Moalem-Refaeli (Bayit Yehudi) pointed out that in Sunday’s Interior Committee meeting, Police Chief Yohanan Danino said anyone who doesn’t see that the violence in Jerusalem is decreasing is disconnected from reality.

“When hundreds of police guarded the terror-abetter Haneen Zoabi during her visit to the Temple Mount instead of being spread around Jerusalem to prevent another terrorist attack, the chief of police needs to examine his decisions,” she said.

MK Danny Danon (Likud) said Abbas’s letter of condolence to the family of the terrorist who shot Temple Mount activist Rabbi Yehuda Glick last week encouraged this Wednesday’s terror attack.

View original original The Jerusalem Post publication at: http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Bennett-Jerusalem-terror-driver-is-Abbas-emissary-of-death-380840