The prime minister’s decision was made during a security cabinet meeting, which was convened at 9 P.M. but was still ongoing at midnight.
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Four Israelis have been killed since Thursday in a stabbing and a drive-by shooting blamed on Palestinian militants.
Israeli officials are not publicly commenting on the matter, but the settlers are, and are loudly condemning the move as a “serious mistake” that threatens Israel in the long run, saying they believe more construction in occupied Palestine is an “ethical” response to Palestinian protests.
Samri did not immediately say whether the assailant was Palestinian or a member of Israel’s Arab minority.
“You can’t define in human terms the evil of these perpetrators, who are deep full of hate”, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said today.
Though at diplomatic loggerheads with Netanyahu over peace talks that stalled in April 2014, the U.S.-backed Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, has also said he seeks no escalation. Netanyahu already had scrapped plans to arrive in Germany on Wednesday. “We will not accept a situation in which a Jewish woman is stabbed and people avoid helping her, swear at her and kick her. We will bring them to justice”, Netanyahu said.
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The Prime Minister’s Office said yesterday that Netanyahu felt it was important to be in the country at this challenging time.
