Israeli PM blames PA for Hebron attack

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has blamed the Palestinian Authority (PA) for the attack on the Israeli intelligence officer in occupied Hebron which took place earlier this week, Israeli media reported.

“The Palestinian Authority continues to broadcast, in its official media, programmes that incite against the existence of the State of Israel,” Netanyahu said.

Baruch Mizrahi, 47, was Chief Superintendent from Modi’in. He served 25 years in the intelligence of the Israeli occupation forces. For the last three years he led the technology department in the intelligence division of the investigations department in the police.

Netanyahu said: “The incitement of the Palestinian Authority continues in that it has yet to see fit to condemn this abominable and reprehensible act.”

The Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth said that the Israeli Economic Minister and Jewish Home Chairman Naftali Bennett echoed Netanyahu’s condemnation of the PA.

Bennett was reported to have said: “The Palestinian Authority bankrolls Jew killers with one hand and extorts Israel to release them with the other. They’re committed to terror, not peace.”

In response, the Palestinian Minister of Religious Affairs in Ramallah, Mahmoud Al-Habash, today condemned the killing. He said: “We [the PA] condemn all murders and feel the pain of the families.”