Israel sees Abbas' silence on police attack as sign of surrender
For Israel, the silence of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas following the attack on an Israeli border police officer is part of an attempt to appease hard-liners within Fatah.
“When we see that the Palestinian Authority [PA] not only does not denounce the terror attack, but the Fatah movement of [Palestinian President Mahmoud] Abbas is a partner in backing the terrorists, I think it’s clear we have no one to talk to and nothing to talk about. I hope it’s now clearer than it was in the past,” said Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan. He spoke during a condolence visit to the family of border police soldier Hadas Malka, who was murdered on June 16 in a terror attack in Jerusalem.
Three organizations competed in taking credit for the attack, among them — for the first time — the Islamic State (IS), who dubbed the terrorists “soldiers of the Islamic State.” But a military source told Walla news that the attack was carried out by a local cell in a pattern similar to the terror attack wave of the so-called “individual intifada” that broke out in October 2015.
