“The Palestinian government headed by Mahmoud Abbas is a terrorist government in every way and responsible for the kidnapping of the three teens. As long as he doesn’t dismantle that government, we will not renew diplomatic negotiations with him.”
That is how Deputy Minister Ofir Akunis thinks Israel should respond to the chairman of the Palestinian Authority, even after Abbas delivered his bold speech on June 17 at the Arab League Conference in Saudi Arabia, condemning the abduction of the youths. But Abbas failed to win the hearts of the Israeli public with his comments. Not only was he subjected to criticism at home for his conciliatory speech, the Israeli political right continues to point an accusatory finger at him.