Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon condemned on Sunday the brutal kidnapping-murder last week of Palestinian teen Muhammed Abu Khdeir by suspected Jewish terrorists, saying the suspects would be treated as severely as Arab terrorists.

"I am embarrassed and horrified at the cruel murder of the young Muhammed Abu Khdeir," Ya'alon said in a statement posted to his Facebook page on Sunday evening.

"These debased murderers don't represent the Jewish people or its values, and they must be treated as terrorists," the defense minister said. "We will not allow Jewish terrorists from our midst to disrupt the fabric of the many different communities in the state of Israel, and to harm innocents just because they are Arabs."

"We must battle the perpetrators [of such actions], and those who deploy them, with an iron fist."

Read more: Defense minister calls for Jewish killers to be treated as terrorists | The Times of Israel http://www.timesofisrael.com/defense-minister-calls-for-jewish-killers-to-be-treated-as-terrorists/#ixzz36mrVRFbi