Mixed reactions from world leaders as deadly attacks kill 3 Israelis
The Obama administration issued a strong condemnation of Palestinian incitement and assaults against Israeli civilians and soldiers after a series of terror attacks Tuesday that left three Israelis dead and several more injured.
White House press secretary Josh Earnest said “the US condemns in the strongest possible terms the terrorist attacks, the recent terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians which resulted in the murder of three Israelis and left numerous others wounded.” He said the US stressed the “importance of condemning violence and combating incitement.”
Earnest added that the administration was “deeply concerned” about the escalating violence and urged all sides to restore calm.
The statement made no mention of allegations Israel is trying to change the status quo on the Temple Mount, claims cited by Palestinian leaders which Israel has repeatedly rejected.
US Secretary of State John Kerry said he would refrain from blaming either Israel or the Palestinians for the recent violence.
“I am not going to point fingers [at the culprits] from afar,” Kerry told reporters in Washington.
“This is a revolving cycle that damages the future for everybody but when I see violence like the killing of three innocent Israelis I am going to condemn it – like we condemned the settler violence against a Palestinian family [in the village of Douma],” Kerry said.
European Union ambassador to Israel Lars Faaborg Andersen also condemned the attacks in a series of tweets Tuesday evening.
“These attacks not only cause human suffering. They undermine the trust ordinary citizens feel for passers-by in the street let alone the trust people need as communities if there is to be any prospect for peace,” Andersen said.
“My thoughts are with the families of 3 more victims of terrorism & the many injured,” he added.
Earlier Tuesday, by contrast, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged Israel to carry out a “serious review” on whether its security forces are resorting to excessive force in clashes with Palestinians.
Ban finds “the apparent excessive use of force by Israeli security forces” to be “troubling,” his spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters as violence continued in Jerusalem, Ra’anana and the West Bank.
This “demands serious review as it only serves to exacerbates the situation leading to a vicious cycle of needless bloodshed,” he said.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that Israel would use “all means” available to end Palestinian terror and violence and that new security measures were planned.
Ban was due to sit down with UN Security Council envoys for a luncheon meeting on Tuesday to discuss the mounting Israeli-Palestinian violence.
A ministerial-level meeting of the Security Council on the crisis in the Middle East is scheduled for October 22.
In September, Ban Ki-moon told Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas that he fears inflammatory statements Abbas made could increase tensions in Jerusalem, Israel Radio reported at the time.
As reported by The Times of Israel