Internal security minister: Anyone who throws Molotov cocktail at a car is a terrorist

Internal Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovich (Yisrael Beytenu) said Tuesday that anyone who throws a Molotov cocktail at a Jewish or Arab vehicle is a terrorist, no matter how old the perpetrator.

Speaking in reference to Sunday’s arrest of three adolescent boys from the West Bank settlement of Bat Ayin, the minister told Israel Radio, “[The perpetrators] and their parents should be prosecuted.” The children are suspected of throwing a petrol bomb that injured six Palestinians riding in a taxi near the settlement.

Five of the injured were members of the same Palestinian family, from nearby Nahalin. The parents, 35 and 27 years of age, suffered second-degree burns in the attack, while their three children and the driver suffered first-degree burns.

In the interview, Ahronovitch said that most of the residents of Bat Ayin are “excellent and law-abiding people.”

Commenting on this month’s brutal beating of an Arab teenager in Jerusalem, the minister said that racially motivated violent acts should be dealt with sternly and swiftly, as was done by the local police in the capital.