Settlers: Ehud Barak, left-wing policies to blame for attack

Residents of the West Bank settlement of Bat Ayin, where an axe-wielding terrorist had killed a 13-year-old boy and wounded a 7-year-old, voiced rage on Thursday over the government's "left-wing policies" which they argued had made the attack possible.

In a statement prepared by a settler committee, they said :"Once again it has been proven that when roadblocks and checkpoints are removed - Jewish blood is spilled. We urge the new government to put an end to the left-wing policy of capitulation and groveling to the Arabs, and begin worrying about the safety of the Jews, and once and for all put an end to the Arab terror and destroy the hopes of the Arab enemy of ever establishing a Palestinian state on Israeli soil."

The committee of settlers from Binyamin and Samaria issued a statement saying "this [attack] is a direct result of the government's policy of leniency and roadblock removals, led by the defense minister."

"The prime minister and the Israel Defense Forces chief of staff must understand that [Defense Minister] Ehud Barak's irresponsible security policies were devised only to serve his own needs within the left," they added. "Barak is knowingly putting the lives of Jewish settlers at risk."

MK Ariyeh Eldad (National Union) echoed the settlers' sentiments, saying that is was Barak's lenient policies in the West Bank that paved the way for Thursday's murderous attack. "Over the last few months, we have seen the wholesale removal of roadblocks on the one hand, and a weakening of the settlements' security preparedness on the other. I call on the new prime minister to explain to the old defense minister that the new government has new policies in regard to Arab terror and that it intends to immediately implement measures to bolster the Jewish settlement in the West Bank."

MK Dr. Michael Ben-Ari (National Union) also lashed out at the defense minister, saying that he was responsible for the Bat Ayin attack. "We warned him over the last weeks that the removal of roadblocks and the policy of leniency toward the Palestinians could result in a tragedy. Barak will not be able to wash [the blood] off his hands," Ben-Ari said.