Netanyahu on Radical Islam: It's Time to Wake Up
JERUSALEM, Israel -- Around the world, authorities are on high alert to prevent any more strikes by Islamic terrorists.
In Britain, Prime Minister David Cameron announced Monday that seven terror attacks have been foiled in Britain over the past six months.
President Barack Obama and other world leaders are meeting at a G-20 summit in Turkey, working on the next steps to end the war in Syria and respond to the escalating ISIS threat.
And in Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Monday that radical Islam is responsible for terrorism around the world.
"In Israel, as in France, terrorism is terrorism and standing behind it is radical Islam and its desire to destroy its victims," Netanyahu said. "The time has come for the world to wake up and unite in order to defeat terrorism."
Following the attacks in Paris, Netanyahu repeated what he has said for years, "militant Islamic terrorism attacks our societies because it wants to destroy our civilization and our values."
The Paris attacks happened just hours after a Palestinian terrorist murdered Rabbi Ya'akov Litman and his 18-year-old son, Netanel, in a shooting attack on their vehicle. His wife, three daughters and another son had minor injuries. The family was on their way to celebrate a pre-wedding Sabbath with their fourth daughter and her soon-to-be in-laws.
Netanyahu said it's time for the world "to condemn terrorism against us to the same degree that they condemn terrorism everywhere else in the world."
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas condemned the attacks in France. Netanyahu said it would be appropriate for Abbas "to condemn ruthless terrorism against innocent people in Israel and fight the incitement that motivates it."
Israeli security services arrested the perpetrator of the attacks on the Litman family. Netanyahu said the terrorist is a member of Islamic Jihad. Apparently his father and brother turned him in due to Israel's policy of destroying the homes of terrorists.
Netanyahu said Israel is no more blame for the terror against it than France is.
"It is the terrorists who are to blame for terrorism, not the territories, not the settlements and not any other thing. It is the desire to destroy us that perpetuates this conflict and drives the murderous aggression against us," he said.
"The terrorists who attack us have the same murderous intent as those in Paris. Thanks to our aggressive policy against terrorism to control the ground, go into the villages, demolish terrorists' homes and take preventive action against the infrastructures of terrorism along with the determined action of the IDF and the security services in carrying out this policy, we succeed many times in frustrating and preventing more serious disasters," Netanyahu said.
In a separate case on Monday, two Palestinians and a third wounded when they opened fire on Israeli troops who had arrived to destroy the home of a terrorist from an earlier attack.