Netanyahu slams UN Human Rights Council for hosting official from murderous Hamas on same day; Peres mourns ‘horrible crime’

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned Monday’s “heinous murder of Jews” in France and said he feared it was a consequence of “murderous anti-Semitism.”

He also rebuked the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva for, on the very same day, hosting an official from Hamas — whose organization, he said, is committed to the murder of Jews.

President Shimon Peres also condemned the shooting. “Of all the terrible things and horrible crimes that exist in the criminal world,” said Peres, “I don’t know of a sin greater than the murder of a boy or a girl, innocent beings that have never harmed another person, that haven’t yet tasted the taste of life. This is the ultimate abomination.”

He added: “To kill in cold blood reflects the lack of values, the inhumanity and the insanity of these murderers. I think the entire world needs to unite so that our children can live in safety and without dangers.”

Netanyahu, speaking at a Likud party meeting, spoke bitterly about the killing of Jews, including children, outside the school in Toulouse on Monday morning, and said that while it was too early to ascertain the specifics, he feared it was motivated by “violent and murderous anti-Semitism.”

Netanyahu slammed the UN for not condemning the incident, and the UN’s Human Rights Council for hosting Hamas official Ismail al-Ashqar the same day. ”I have one thing to tell the UN Human Rights Council: What’s your connection to human rights? Shame on you,” he said.

Netanyahu said the Israeli government is committed to working with France to ensure the perpetrators of the “heinous murder” would be caught and brought to justice. Netanyahu said he would speak with French President Nicolas Sarkozy later on Monday.

Peres sent condolences to the families of the victims and wished a speedy recovery to those wounded in the attack. The president spoke to Yvan Levy, one of the heads of the Toulouse Jewish community, who told him that the community has the full support of the local population as well as that of all of France.

“Please give a strong hug from all of us to the families of the victims and tell them that we pray in Jerusalem for the recovery of the wounded,” Peres told Levy. (© 2012 THE TIMES OF ISRAEL 03/19/12)