World
Netanyahu says the same radical Islamic terrorism is behind attacks in Israel and France as first bombers are named
November 15, 2015 15:56
By, Charlotte Oliver
1 min read
ByCharlotte Oliver, Charlotte Oliver
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has urged foreign countries “to condemn terrorism against us [Israel] to the same degree that they condemn terrorism everywhere else in the world”.
Mr Netanyahu spoke on Sunday at the start of his weekly Cabinet meeting, where he drew links between the terror attacks that took place across Paris on Friday night - leaving 129 people killed and 350 injured - and the ongoing attacks perpetrated in Israel.
On Friday, a rabbi and his son were killed, and five members of their family were injured, as a shooter attacked them while they made their way to another daughter’s wedding celebrations south of Hebron in the West Bank.
Mr Netanyahu said: “In Israel, as in France, terrorism is terrorism and standing behind it is radical Islam and its desire to destroy its victims.
“We are not to blame for the terrorism directed against us, just as the French are not to blame for the terrorism directed against them. 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.”
Meanwhile, police in France have named one of Friday’s suicide bombers as Ismael Omar Mostefai, a 29-year-old French national, who had previously been arrested for petty crimes. It has been reported that authorities had him on record as a potential Islamic fundamentalist.
Another suspect, who killed himself in the Bataclan bombing, was found carrying a passport under the name Ahmed Almuhamed. He travelled to France as a migrant through Greece.
It has been reported that two of the bombers were carrying Syrian passports, another two were French, and at least two others were Belgian.