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January 8, 2017 2:05 pm
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Netanyahu Says All Signs Indicate Jerusalem Truck-Rammer Was ISIS Supporter; MKs Link Attack to UN Resolution, Paris Peace Conference

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The aftermath of the deadly truck-ramming attack in Jerusalem on Jan. 8, 2017. Photo: ZAKA.

The aftermath of the deadly truck-ramming attack in Jerusalem on Jan. 8, 2017. Photo: ZAKA.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday evening that “all signs indicate” the perpetrator of the deadly truck-ramming attack in Jerusalem — which claimed the lives of four IDF soldiers, three of them female — was a supporter of ISIS.

Netanyahu went on to assert that “actions are being taken” whose details he would not divulge.

Referring to a similar modus operandi in Europe, Netanyahu said, “We know there is a succession of attacks, and it could well be that there is a connection between those in France and Berlin — and now in Jerusalem.”

After extending condolences to the families of the victims and wishes for the speedy recovery of the wounded, he said, “We will overcome this attack as we have overcome others.”

The attack elicited harsh responses from others in the political echelon, as well, the Hebrew news site nrg reported.

Jewish Home Party MK Shuli Mualem-Rafaeli placed responsibility for the attack on the Palestinian Authority, which, she said, “operates a well-oiled mechanism of incitement, even in its education system.” She connected this to the “encouragement” the PA “received from the UN resolution, which was passed with the backing of the Obama administration.” From the Palestinians’ point of view, she said, “There is nothing to prevent them from continuing to call for peace in front of the world, and to call for the murder of Jews among the Arabs.”

Mualem-Rafaeli was referring to UN Resolution 2334, which passed the UN Security Council recently — after the US abstained from, rather than vetoed, the vote. It was widely criticized in Israel for outlawing Jewish presence in east Jerusalem and for enabling the Palestinians to bypass direct peace talks.

Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotevely pointed to the slated Paris peace conference, saying that the truck attack was the Palestinians’ “clear answer” to it: “More terrorism.”

Culture and Sport Minister Miri Regev tweeted, “In this renewal of Muslim terrorism, there is no difference between a resident of east Jerusalem, Ramallah or Tehran. Nor is there a difference between firearms, a truck or a knife.”

Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat said: “Unfortunately, there is no limit to the cruelty of  the terrorists, who stop at nothing to murder Jews and disrupt daily life in Israel’s capital. Those who incite, inflame and support terrorism have to pay a heavy price. I call on the residents of Jerusalem and the entire country to be alert, to go on with your routines despite the attack and not to let terrorism win.”

Knesset Internal Affairs and Environment Committee chairman MK David Amsalem stated: “How sad that this despicable, appalling [act of] terrorism… brings us back to earth and reminds all of us what we are really dealing with.”

In Sunday’s attack, which took place at approximately 1:30 pm, at least four Israeli cadets in their early 20s, three female and one male, were killed and another 15 were wounded — some seriously — when an attacker rammed a truck into them at the Armon Hanatziv promenade.

This is the worst terrorist attack that has happened in several months, amid a lull in the surge in Palestinian terrorism — known familiarly as the “lone-wolf intifada” — which began a year ago in September.

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