Secretary of State John Kerry strongly condemned this morning’s terror attack in Jerusalem (video embedded below), calling it “a pure result of incitement.”
Kerry, who spoke Tuesday before, noted that Israel had acted to calm the situation by easing age restrictions on Muslim worshippers at the al-Aqsa Mosque. He did not mention any steps taken by the Palestinians despite what had been described in Amman as a pledge from Abbas to rein in incitement.
“To have this kind of act, which is a pure result of incitement, of calls for ‘days of rage,’ of just irresponsibility, is unacceptable,” Kerry said. “The Palestinian leadership must condemn this and they must begin to take serious steps to restrain any kind of incitement … and exhibit the kind of leadership that is necessary to put this region on a different path. This simply has no place in human behavior and we need to hear from leaders who are going to lead their people to a different place.”
Kerry’s remarks echo those made by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday:
Less than 24 hours after this meeting in Amman, the official media of the Palestinian Authority called for a day of rage in Jerusalem. Abu Mazen must halt the incitement that leads to acts of violence. This is one of the roots of the inflamed moods that are fueled by Islamist extremist propaganda and propaganda by the Palestinian Authority.
Calls on Palestinian social media promoting violence against Jews have increased in recent weeks. After a number of terror attacks involving cars were carried out earlier this month, Palestinian social media users hailed vehicular attacks as the new “martyrdom operations.” Last week, after two Israelis were stabbed to death, Hamas celebrated “Palestinian knives day,” while a recent video released by Fatah, the party of Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas, spoke of training for the “destruction of Israel.”
The PA’s leadership has also been ratcheting up incendiary rhetoric lately, calling for a “day of rage” multiple times.
[Photo: Associated Press / YouTube ]