Israel's response to Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas' incitement to terror must be more building in Jerusalem, Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz argued Thursday.
Katz wrote on Facebook that Abbas's inciteful lies, “which turn a murderer into a saint and tries to destroy our connection with Jerusalem, must be answered by the massive building of tens of thousands of homes in Jewish neighborhoods of Jerusalem.”
Abbas claimed in a speech on PA television on Wednesday that the stabber of a 13-year-old boy from Pisgat Zeev in Jerusalem earlier this week was actually a victim of an Israeli “execution.”
Israel "executed the child Ahmed Mansara in cold blood, just like they do to other children in Jerusalem and other Palestinian territories," Abbas asserted.
Abbas continued by repeating his claims that Israel is seeking to ignite a "religious war" over the Temple Mount by changing the "status-quo" - namely allowing Jews to pray there - despite Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu repeatedly insisting this was not the case.
He then added he was only interested in "peace," calling on Palestinians to join the "peaceful, popular resistance" against Israel.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office responded to Abbas' remarks, calling them "incitement and lies."
"The youth [Abbas] is talking about is alive and hospitalized in Hadassah after he stabbed an Israeli youth, who was riding a bicycle at the time," the statement noted. "While Israel maintains the status quo on the Temple Mount, Abu Mazen's incitement makes cynical use of religion and thus brings about terror."
“I intend to bring up a proposal for massive building in Jerusalem in the next cabinet meeting,” said Katz. “Besides stepping up security and increasing punishments for lawbreakers we must make clear to the world that Jerusalem, Israel's capital for 3,000 years, will remain so forever.”