Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu took part Thursday in the Hanukkah candle lighting ceremony at the Western Wall (Kotel) and spoke about the terror attack that took place earlier in the evening, in which a two-year-old girl suffered serious head injuries when Muslims threw rocks at the car she was in.
"I am always moved by being here, in the place where Jewish history was formed, to large extent. This is the Zion that we dreamt of returning to, and this is Zion that we have returned to. Since then, we have been busy building our land and our state, and we are always under challenge."
"The first thing that I'd like to do this evening is to send wishes of speedy and full recovery to the small baby girl who was wounded by criminals here in Jerusalem," he said. "We will find these criminals and we will bring them to justice. We will safeguard our city."
"I think that you must have noticed in the last few days that our security forces are focusing on finding the perpetrators of evil. They succeed in this, and they will succeed in this case, too."
Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat said that terrorists who throw rocks must be punished more severely than they are at present.
"Everyone must be made to understand that a rock is a weapon like any other and it needs to be treated that way," he said.
"It's unthinkable that a person who is arrested for throwing rocks is released and goes back to throwing rocks. We must not accept this and the punishment must be increased," said Barkat, who came to visit the baby and her family at Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital.
Barkat said that he intends to help the government and police stop the phenomenon of rock throwing, and quickly bring back security for the residents.