Herzog: Israel’s elected officials have not done all they can to stop Jewish terror; ‘this cannot continue’

The political echelon has not done everything it can to stop Jewish attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank, says President Isaac Herzog, adding that the phenomenon “can be stopped.”

“We are seeing very serious phenomena of nationalist crime,” he says during a visit to the IDF Judea and Samaria Division headquarters, “phenomena that go to the root of our ability to function as a state, undermine our ability to exercise sovereignty and Israel’s rule of law.”

“Israel is a democracy, a state governed by the rule of law,” he stresses. “No one can take the law into their own hands. This does great damage to Israel’s good name. It is a stain on its face, and moreover, it first and foremost harms the settlement enterprise.”

“This cannot continue,” the president says. “We must give all the tools, and the political echelon must give all the tools, so that this phenomenon stops. There are legal and other means that can be applied so that this phenomenon is halted and curbed, because it is not ours, it does not belong to us, and it is neither Jewish nor Israeli.”

Herzog also thanks the IDF and security services for their “relentless war [against terrorism] in Judea and Samaria, a stubborn and determined war.”

Addressing the flydubai incident today, Herzog says: “We will act in every way to investigate the incident thoroughly together with our Emirati partners.”

“It must be said that they are our partners and allies and fight together with us against terror. We hope that all the lessons will be learned, and the war on terror does not stop; it is an existing fact.”