MKs: Soldier’s death proves Israel can only rely on itself

Israeli MKs on Saturday reacted with dismay to the murder of an IDF soldier, 20-year-old Bat Yam native Sgt. Tomer Hazan, at the hands of a Palestinian acquaintance in the West Bank, and demanded that the perpetrator be brought to justice.

Hazan was lured on Friday to the village of Beit Amin, south of Qalqilya, by a 42-year-old Palestinian resident of the village, Nidal Amar. Amar, who worked illegally at an Israeli restaurant in Bat Yam where Hazan also worked part-time, killed the Israeli in an open field and threw his body into a well. He had intended to seek to trade the corpse for the release of his brother, a terrorist jailed by Israel.

Finance Minister Yair Lapid said that the murder served as a warning for Israel that it cannot rely on foreign entities with regard to its own security.

“The murder of the soldier Tomer Hazan is a terrible reminder that every day Israel is dealing with murderous, animal-like terrorists,” Lapid wrote on his Facebook page.

“We should not abandon the security of Israel to anyone except ourselves.”

Tomer Hazan (photo credit: Channel 2)

Economics Minister and Jewish Home party head Naftali Bennett echoed Lapid’s statements, but added that Israel should be wary of conducting peace talks with the Palestinians.

“You do not make peace with a terrorist who throws soldiers into a pit,” Bennett said. “You cannot do anything with them except fight them without mercy.”

Likud MK Tzipi Hotoveli also condemned the murder of the soldier and said that such acts proved that Israel’s freeing of terrorists, as part of the arrangements for this summer’s resumption of peace talks, was a mistake.

“The rationale behind the murder of the soldier is tragic proof that the release of terrorists is wrong,” Hotoveli said.

“The Palestinian masses now believe that the kidnapping of soldiers or bodies is an effective means to negotiate with Israel on the release of murderers,” she added.