BY GIL HOFFMAN, JPOST—
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu responded to a shooting incident outside of a French Jewish school on Monday, calling the attack “a loathsome murder of Jews, which included small children.”
Speaking at a Likud faction meeting, Netanyahu said that it was too soon to say what the background of the attack in which four people were killed was, but he said that an “anti-Semitic murder” could not be ruled out.
“I am sure the government of Nicolas Sarkozy will do everything possible to find the killer and we will help with that,” the prime minister stated.
Netanyahu slammed the UN for not condemning the attack, while one of its bodies was scheduled to host senior Hamas official Ismail al-Ashqar on Monday.
“I haven’t heard any condemnation from the UN, but one of its bodies, the human rights council, invited a representative of Hamas who condemned the US for killing bin Laden and kills Jewish men, women, and children. This is who the UNHRC invites today. I have one thing to say to the UNHRC: What do you have to do with human rights? You should be ashamed of yourself!”
Defense Minister Ehud Barak also condemned the shooting attack, calling the loss of life “unacceptable.”
“This is a very serious event, whether it is a terrorist attack or a hate crime,” Barak stated.
The defense minister said that French authorities would handle the situation with the proper gravity.
Opposition leader Tzipi Livni called the attack “shocking and painful.”
Livni said that “Israel and the Jewish people are partners in the fight against anti-Semitism and hate crimes and we are partners in the struggle for Israel’s existence against extremists that try to hurt us – Israelis and Jews, in Israel and abroad.”
The Kadima leader added: “France must protect its citizens from such crimes, In the past, they have proven that the know how to handle these matters and I’m sure that they will know how to cope in this instance.”