Pointing to similar attacks in Israel, Netanyahu urges solidarity with UK
Day after terrorist kills three in London, prime minister says Israelis among first to face car-rammings and stabbings
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel must stand “shoulder-to-shoulder” with Britain Thursday, a day after a terrorist killed three people in a car-ramming and stabbing in central London.
In a statement, Netanyahu compared the London attack to a spate of similar terror incidents that Israel has grappled with over the last two years.
“The citizens of Israel were among the first to face the challenge of vehicular ramming and stabbing attacks,” he said. “We must stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the citizens of Britain and the entire civilized world against radical Islamic terrorism.”
On Wednesday, an attacker identified as a UK-born extremist rammed a car along the pavement on Westminster Bridge, a busy traffic route that is also a popular tourist spot with its views of Parliament and its Big Ben clock tower.
After mowing down several people on the bridge, the attacker crashed the car into the railings outside Parliament and then tried to enter the building, fatally stabbing a policeman with a large knife.
Armed officers shot the attacker dead.
Two civilians and a police officer were killed and another 29 injured in the attack, which was claimed on Thursday by the Islamic State terror group.
“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu strongly condemns the murderous terror attack in London and sends his condolences to the victims and wishes for a speedy recovery to the wounded,” the statement from his office read.
The attack in London occurred at about 2:40 p.m. local time (4:40 p.m. in Israel), as Netanyahu was on a plane returning from a state visit to China. He arrived early Thursday morning.
אני מגנה בתוקף את הפיגוע הרצחני בלונדון. אזרחי ישראל היו בין הראשונים שהתמודדו עם פיגועי דריסה ודקירה. עלינו לעמוד שכם…
Posted by Benjamin Netanyahu – בנימין נתניהו on Thursday, March 23, 2017
The London attacker was born in Britain and had been investigated for violent extremism “some years ago” by the MI5 intelligence service, Prime Minister Theresa May said on Thursday.
“The man was British born and… some years ago he was once investigated by MI5 in relation to concerns about violent extremism,” she told parliament, adding: “He was not part of the current intelligence picture.”
Press Association news agency photos, believed to be of the attacker lying on an ambulance stretcher, showed a burly, bearded man wearing black clothes.
Minutes before Netanyahu released the statement, a French national tried to ram his car into a group of pedestrians in Antwerp, in what appeared to be a copycat attack.
Prosecutors said Belgian security forces found a rifle as well as bladed weapons in the car’s trunk.
Israel has dealt over the last several years with spates of Palestinian car-ramming and stabbing attacks, killing dozens of people.
Car and truck attacks have since been repeated in several European cities, including an attack in Nice on July 14 that killed 86 people and a truck attack in Berlin in December that left 12 people dead, including an Israeli woman.
Both were claimed by Islamic State.
After a truck mowed down a group of soldiers in Jerusalem’s Armon Hanatziv neighborhood in January, killing 4, Israeli officials were quick to tie the attack to the vehicle-rammings in other cities.
Agencies contributed to this report.