In a somber, rather than celebratory, post-election speech last night, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon vowed that "Our long arm shall reach the terrorists and those who dispatch them... Israel shall chase down those who spill the blood of its citizens..."
US National Security Adviser Dr. Condoleezza Rice on Thursday evening contacted the Prime Minister's Bureau Director Dov Weisglass and gave him a message for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon from US President George Bush. Dr. Rice expressed President Bush's deepest regrets over the horrific terror attacks, which struck Israel today, as well as his hope that the democratic processes underway in Israel would be neither disturbed nor impaired.
At a protest quickly organized on Thursday afternoon, across from the PLO’s UN mission on Manhattan's East Side, Coalition for Jewish Concerns-Amcha spokesmen said the attacks were a direct contradiction of the freedoms for which the American holiday of Thanksgiving stands. CJC-Amcha national president Rabbi Avi Weiss stood with a tallit (prayer shawl) draped over his shoulders and declared: "Today, on Thanksgiving, an alarm has been sounded. This morning, terrorists shot missiles at an Israeli commercial airliner. Tomorrow it could well be an American civilian plane. What happens to Israel will happen to the rest of the free world... These attacks are from radical Islam, which in recent weeks has also targeted Christians in Nigeria and Pakistan, Hindus in Kashmir, and Jews in
Jerusalem. Just as the free world fought Nazism and communism, it must battle terrorism. Just as Nazism had to be rooted out at its core, so too terrorism and radical Islam. If not, they will destroy us."
In contrast, there was celebration in the Palestinian Authority yesterday, as news of the series of terrorist attacks on Jews became known. In Jenin, residents took to the streets with dancing and chanting.
US National Security Adviser Dr. Condoleezza Rice on Thursday evening contacted the Prime Minister's Bureau Director Dov Weisglass and gave him a message for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon from US President George Bush. Dr. Rice expressed President Bush's deepest regrets over the horrific terror attacks, which struck Israel today, as well as his hope that the democratic processes underway in Israel would be neither disturbed nor impaired.
At a protest quickly organized on Thursday afternoon, across from the PLO’s UN mission on Manhattan's East Side, Coalition for Jewish Concerns-Amcha spokesmen said the attacks were a direct contradiction of the freedoms for which the American holiday of Thanksgiving stands. CJC-Amcha national president Rabbi Avi Weiss stood with a tallit (prayer shawl) draped over his shoulders and declared: "Today, on Thanksgiving, an alarm has been sounded. This morning, terrorists shot missiles at an Israeli commercial airliner. Tomorrow it could well be an American civilian plane. What happens to Israel will happen to the rest of the free world... These attacks are from radical Islam, which in recent weeks has also targeted Christians in Nigeria and Pakistan, Hindus in Kashmir, and Jews in
Jerusalem. Just as the free world fought Nazism and communism, it must battle terrorism. Just as Nazism had to be rooted out at its core, so too terrorism and radical Islam. If not, they will destroy us."
In contrast, there was celebration in the Palestinian Authority yesterday, as news of the series of terrorist attacks on Jews became known. In Jenin, residents took to the streets with dancing and chanting.