Jewish Home (Bayit Yehudi) Chairman and Economics Minister Naftali Bennett visited kidnapped teen Naftali Frenkel's family Sunday in Nof Ayalon, promising that Israel would do everything in its power to bring the boys home.
"Kidnapping children will not be an event that passes quietly and it will be clear to all groups involved, the terrorists those that sent them and those that support them, that such operations do not pay," Bennett stated.
"We will respond with an iron fist to terror," he continued, urging the Jewish people to continue praying. "This is the time for the entire nation of Israel to increase our prayers and to stay unified, determined and strong. We will not be broken."
Later, Bennett also visited the Yifrah family in Elad, where he also blamed the Palestinian Authority (PA) 'unity' pact with Hamas for the kidnappings.
"Recently, the Palestinians established a government in collaboration with the terrorist organization Hamas, and now we are told about the abduction of children on their way home from school," he reflected. "The Palestinian public support and distribution of sweets in the streets is the result of the Palestinian Authority's ongoing anti-Semitic incitement against Jews."
"Abducting children in their junior year of high school is the height of the moral nadir a terrorist organization can reach," Bennet fired. "I say this clearly: it is not worthwhile to anyone involved in the attack or its planning or instigation [to keep the boys], and we will fight them."
The minister then addressed the international community, much of which has remained quiet on the attacks, even some 60+ hours after the fact.
"The world who pressures Israel to release terrorists must mobilize now for the release kidnapped children on their way home from school," he said. "The lack of a global response teaches us that only we can rely on ourselves and we must act."