Missing Israeli teens found dead near Hebron; Netanyahu: ‘Hamas is responsible and Hamas will pay’

Israeli military in Halhul on Monday. (Photo: Jim Hollander/European Pressphoto Agency)

The bodies of three missing Israeli teens - Gil-Ad Shaer,16, Naftali Fraenkel, 16, and Eyal Yifrah, 19 – were found today in a West Bank field near the village of Halhul, not far from where they went missing on June 12. Halhul is close to the city of Hebron where the search effort and military presence has been intense over the past few weeks.

The Israeli government is meeting in an emergency cabinet meeting tonight to discuss an official response. Initial reports have indicated that those responsible for the deaths may have been connected to Hamas, but that the killing was not an official operation (interesting background here). Hamas issued another statement denying responsibility for the deaths (from Haaretz):

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri: “Only the Israeli version of the events has been published. Israel is attempting to make way for aggression against us, against Hamas. We reject all Israeli allegations and threats against us. We are already used to it and will know how to defend ourselves. No Palestinian group, Hamas or any other group, has taken responsibility for the action, and thus the Israeli version can’t be trusted.”

Still, Israeli politicians have already increased calls to use the teens’ death as a justification for “a war on Hamas.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a statement saying, “Hamas is responsible and Hamas will pay.”

http://mondoweiss.net/2014/06/israeli-netanyahu-responsible.html

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Permalink Reply by Deep Space on June 30, 2014 at 7:52pm

I guess this sets a precedent for the next time a black kid gets shot. We're going to have to invade Africa..

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Permalink Reply by Michael Markoff on June 30, 2014 at 7:59pm

Israel should take a page out of Gabriel's playbook:

"Stanley: War? Who are we at war with?

Gabriel: Anyone who impinges on America's freedom. Terrorist states, Stanley. Someone must bring their war to them. They bomb a church, we bomb ten. They hijack a plane, we take out an airport. They execute American tourists, we tactically nuke an entire city. Our job is to make terrorism so horrific that it becomes unthinkable to attack Americans." (...or Israelis)

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Permalink Reply by Tara on July 3, 2014 at 10:41am

Israelis launch Facebook campaign calling for 'revenge' of teens' m...

Tens of thousands of Israelis are calling for attacks on Palestinians in a new Facebook group formed in the aftermath of the abduction and murder of three Israeli youths in the West Bank last month.

The responses, consisting of racist comments and demands for revenge, urge people to take violent action against Arabs.

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Permalink Reply by Ron Anderson on July 6, 2014 at 2:10pm

In the NY Daily News, on Feb. 28, 1994(p.6), Jewish Rabbi, Yaacov Perrin said, "(The lives of) One million Arabs are not worth a Jewish fingernail."