Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Sunday night strongly condemned Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas, who sent a letter of support to the family of the terrorist who shot Temple Mount activist Yehuda Glick.

“When we are trying to calm the situation, Abu Mazen sends condolences over the death of one who tried to perpetrate a reprehensible murder. The time has come for the international community to condemn him for such actions,” the Prime Minister said.

In the letter, Abbas condemned Israel for killing the man who shot Glick. “We received with anger the announcement about the despicable crime perpetrated by the gangs of killing and terror in the Israeli occupation army, against the son, Muataz Ibrahim Hijazi, who rose to the heavens as a martyr for the defense of the rights of the Palestinian nation and the holy places,” he wrote.

Israel’s “barbaric” operation, added Abbas, “joins all of the crimes of the Israeli occupation against the Palestinian people since the Nakba and the historic injustice that accompanies it since then.”

The letter was condemned by Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman, who said, “The letter of support indicates, more than anything, that Abu Mazen is, indeed, a partner: a partner to terror, a partner to terrorists, a partner to murderers.”

“Abu Mazen’s despicable letter constitutes open support for terror and encouragement for additional murders,” said the foreign minister. He called upon the international community “to vomit [or purge – ed.] and denounce this man, who is leading the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to violent, terrible places.”

Glick – who founded and heads the LIBA Initiative for Jewish Freedom on the Temple Mount – was shot in the chest on Wednesday night outside the Begin Heritage Center in Jerusalem, after the shooter pulled up in a motorcycle or scooter, and confirmed Glick’s identity before shooting. 

He had been speaking, minutes before being shot, at an event for Jewish rights on the Temple Mount that had hosted leading religious figures and MKs.