With eyes upraised in prayer, we hope that the murder of 17-year-old Palestinian teenager Muhammad Abu Khdeir was a family honor killing or that it was done for some other reason, even though the commensurate damage, as if resulting from a nationalistically motivated crime, has already been inflicted on both sides. For the sake of the Jews and the Palestinians, somebody should seek our forefathers' assurance that the Jerusalem crime wasn't an act of retaliation over the recent murders of the three Jewish teenagers. Certainly, every decent Israeli is seeking recompense for the murders of Eyal Yifrah, Naftali Frenkel and Gil-ad Shaer. There's a score to settle with the two Palestinians who slaughtered these teenagers in gleeful song, as we heard in the full recordings released on Wednesday, and those who abetted their crime, not to mention the brains behind the operation which offered their support. The Israel Defense Forces and the Shin Bet security agency should pursue them in the spirit of "I will draw my sword and my hand will destroy them" (Exodus 15:9). Not the unruly hordes of public dissidents. And not the extremist rabbis, who have kept silent in the absence of any information about who killed this Palestinian teen. From moral grounds, they have no right to remain silent. They could learn something from bereaved parents Rachel and Avi Frenkel, whose devotion to the people of Israel and its heritage is unparalleled. On Wednesday, Rachel told me that while she wanted to see the IDF to prevent the next murder, she wasn't motivated by revenge. Certain things must be said clearly, albeit with the necessary caution. A few senior Likud government officials expressed disappointment on Tuesday with the incitement that echoed throughout the cabinet meeting. Some people were obviously seeking to benefit by hurling insults, as if the defense establishment could do something more. Only when government discussions have ended will we be able to discern what are the viable options and what is a handful of ministers' blatant demagoguery. To what extend did Wednesday's reckless chatter splatter this slain Palestinians' blood over the three Jewish boys' carpet of roses? To what extend did the murder near Jerusalem actually help "temper" Hamas' murders' villainous portrait in the eyes of the international community, which doesn't exactly love Israel anyway? This isn't just an offense of the highest order, but a harmful and perniciously hopeless act that hamstrings any government decision to strike back at Hamas. Defense officials have been asserting for several months that "the territory" -- how they refer to the Palestinians of Judea and Samaria -- is not interested in resuscitating the intifada. On Wednesday night, commentator Ehud Yaari alleged that most Palestinians consider the previous intifada an abject failure. But intifadas are not simply eruptions due to careful considerations or weighed balance of powers. Rather, they derive from a prevalent mood and seething anger with no manageable outlet and, starting Wednesday, the situation got closer to that point than it ever has been since 2002. Israel does not need an Operation Defensive Shield sequel with the potential to set the entire Middle East ablaze, despite Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman's inclination. What Israel should do is declare an emergency situation, launch all investigative measures -- "special measures" included -- against Palestinians and Jews who threaten all the residents living between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and also use the Shin Bet's department for investigating Jewish terrorism, to capture every murderer, regardless of religion, race, gender, or frenzied, crazed spirit.
