Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has denounced the distribution of posters in Hebron depicting the prophet Mohammed as a pig stepping on the Koran.
“I felt it necessary to call the mayor of Hebron to express not only my personal revulsion but the revulsion of the entire people of Israel,” Netanyahu said in an address to the Jewish Agency for Israel Assembly meeting in Jerusalem.
“This runs counter to our outlook as Jews and our respect and appreciation for the Islamic religion and for its founder the prophet Mohammed.”
Netanyahu telephoned the West Bank city’s Palestinian mayor Sunday.
Palestinian officials termed Netanyahu’s remarks inadequate, and called on him to convene a news conference to denounce the leaflets publicly.
Israel detained over the weekend a 25-year-old Jerusalem resident, Tatyana Suskin, on suspicion of pasting the posters on storefronts in Hebron and planning to distribute more.
Suskin was arrested while throwing stones at Palestinian cars and stores in Hebron. She had dozens of the posters in her possession.
After spotting the posters in Hebron, dozens of Palestinians rioted over the weekend, ending a week of relative calm in the tense city.
Israel handed over 80 percent of the city to Palestinian rule under the Hebron accord in January, but maintains control over the Jewish enclave where some 450 settlers live.
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