Prime Minister Ariel Sharon arrived at scene of the attack shortly after the blast, viewed the line-up of body bags holding the young victims, and had this to say:
“The horrific pictures from this murderous act carried out by Palestinians, the horrific images that we see here, are more powerful than any words. It is interesting what type of Palestinian state they have in mind, what type of Palestinian state they are talking about. This terrible thing that we see is a continuation of Palestinian terror, and it is against this terror that we must fight and struggle, and this is what we will do.”
Atty. Elyakim HaEtzni of Kiryat Arba, a member of the Yesha Council and an ex-MK, later told Arutz-7, \"It could be that Sharon learned something today, when he stood by the body bags and didn\'t blame Arafat for a change, but came out instead against a Palestinian state. Maybe, just maybe, he has learned something - let us pray that this is the case...\" HaEtzni explained that if Israel decides now to deport Arafat, \"the Americans will say, \'OK, great, the problem has been solved, now let\'s give them a state.\' For us to focus on Arafat is simply running away from the truth... Why do we all feel so helpless now? It\'s because we don\'t have a goal. If the government does not announce categorically that this is a war for our home, and that our home is between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River, and that we are fighting for Eretz Yisrael [the Land of Israel], and that we are willing to give the Arabs autonomy under our sovereignty... - only then will we not be caught up in despair...\"
Prime Minister Sharon left Gilo this morning for an emergency meeting with several of his government ministers, and later convened the security mini-Cabinet for a discussion on Israel\'s expected military response.
Yechezkel Yisraeli, principal of the Ort Spanian High School only 200 or 300 meters away from the site of the attack, spoke to Arutz-7 today:
\"Two of our students were on the bus; they were wounded. Many of our students were on a bus that stopped at the site of the attack only two minutes before... I was in school at the time; we start school at 7:15 for morning prayers, so most of students were already in school... We carried out a practice exercise for this type of eventuality just two weeks ago, and unfortunately we had to put it into practice today... We gathered everyone together, made an initial listing of all the students to see who was here and who was missing. We called all the teachers and asked them to come in immediately, which they did, and we gave them a quick overview of how they should talk to the students. … Education Minister Limor Livnat was also here… We had to organize the students\' return home; we didn\'t want to send any of them home alone, so we sent teachers with all of them... The school year is supposed to end in two days, but we are considering lengthening it by a few days, in order to somehow compensate for what they went through today - especially those who actually heard the explosion and saw the sights, and those who helped out, and those who were there...\"
“The horrific pictures from this murderous act carried out by Palestinians, the horrific images that we see here, are more powerful than any words. It is interesting what type of Palestinian state they have in mind, what type of Palestinian state they are talking about. This terrible thing that we see is a continuation of Palestinian terror, and it is against this terror that we must fight and struggle, and this is what we will do.”
Atty. Elyakim HaEtzni of Kiryat Arba, a member of the Yesha Council and an ex-MK, later told Arutz-7, \"It could be that Sharon learned something today, when he stood by the body bags and didn\'t blame Arafat for a change, but came out instead against a Palestinian state. Maybe, just maybe, he has learned something - let us pray that this is the case...\" HaEtzni explained that if Israel decides now to deport Arafat, \"the Americans will say, \'OK, great, the problem has been solved, now let\'s give them a state.\' For us to focus on Arafat is simply running away from the truth... Why do we all feel so helpless now? It\'s because we don\'t have a goal. If the government does not announce categorically that this is a war for our home, and that our home is between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River, and that we are fighting for Eretz Yisrael [the Land of Israel], and that we are willing to give the Arabs autonomy under our sovereignty... - only then will we not be caught up in despair...\"
Prime Minister Sharon left Gilo this morning for an emergency meeting with several of his government ministers, and later convened the security mini-Cabinet for a discussion on Israel\'s expected military response.
Yechezkel Yisraeli, principal of the Ort Spanian High School only 200 or 300 meters away from the site of the attack, spoke to Arutz-7 today:
\"Two of our students were on the bus; they were wounded. Many of our students were on a bus that stopped at the site of the attack only two minutes before... I was in school at the time; we start school at 7:15 for morning prayers, so most of students were already in school... We carried out a practice exercise for this type of eventuality just two weeks ago, and unfortunately we had to put it into practice today... We gathered everyone together, made an initial listing of all the students to see who was here and who was missing. We called all the teachers and asked them to come in immediately, which they did, and we gave them a quick overview of how they should talk to the students. … Education Minister Limor Livnat was also here… We had to organize the students\' return home; we didn\'t want to send any of them home alone, so we sent teachers with all of them... The school year is supposed to end in two days, but we are considering lengthening it by a few days, in order to somehow compensate for what they went through today - especially those who actually heard the explosion and saw the sights, and those who helped out, and those who were there...\"