Shortly after a Palestinian on Monday reportedly rammed his car into a group of Israeli Jewish settlers in Jerusalem, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave his Remembrance Day speech.
In his speech, delivered in the National Memorial Hall in Jerusalem, the rightwing Israeli leader said that the attack “reminds us that the state of Israel was bought with great suffering.”
“These terrorist attacks are carried out with the expectation that they will uproot us from here,” he said.
“If they could, they would murder us all,” Netanyahu declared.
The attack was carried out by a 39-year-old Palestinian with a “history of mental illness,” the Israeli newspaper The Jerusalem Post reported shortly after the incident, where seven Israelis were wounded.
Palestinian Killed, Seven Settlers Wounded in Jerusalem ‘Ramming Attack’ (VIDEO)
One of the Israelis sustained serious injuries, while the rest sustained mostly light wounds, with one hospitalized due to shock.
Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir spoke on the phone with the “Israeli civilian who killed” the alleged Palestinian attacker, Israeli media reported.
“I wanted to congratulate you .. The State of Israel thanks you for preventing a very big disaster,” Ben-Gvir said.
Ben-Gvir’s traditional support base however didn’t seem too impressed as Israeli Jewish extremists gathered in a protest in Jerusalem demanding “vengeance”, while also chanting “Ben-Gvir, go home!”
Violence in the Occupied Territories has increased significantly in recent months. Last year witnessed what the UN called the highest number of Palestinians killed by Israel since 2005.
This year is on its way to witnessing even more casualties, mostly Palestinians killed in the northern West Bank towns of Jenin and Nablus.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
