PM says horrified by murders of children over weekend

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was deeply horrified by the murder of seven-year-old Leon Kalantarov and Jerusalem infant Fruma Inshin.

President Shimon Peres said that the murders of the two children were "the most appalling possible things."

"The State of Israel awoke to a difficult morning," he said during a speech in his Jerusalem residence.

At the start of the cabinet meeting on Sunday, Netanyahu said that he ordered a ministerial committee headed by Justice Minsiter Yaacov Ne'eman, Interior Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch, and Welfare Minister Isaac Herzog to examine additional actions that can be taken to "ensure the safety of our children."

Herzog said his office would inquire as to whether there was a failure in the transfer of information between the various authorities regarding Naor and Adir Sudmi, the twin brothers who are suspected of murdering Kalantarov. The brothers are believed to be pedophiles.

The brothers' attorney, Yaron Forer said he plans to present the court in Kiryat Gat with documents proving that the twins suffer from emotional disorders and mental retardation, but investigators say the twins were of sound mind when they committed the act.

On Saturday the twins' parents issued a statement saying, "We are sorry for the grave loss and offer our condolences to the family of the deceased boy."

According to Attorney Forer, "The incident struck them like lightning on a clear day and they hope the twins will be found innocent. They do not believe they are capable of such an act. The family draws its strength from the belief that the bad story would end quickly."

It should be noted that social services claimed that the twins' family had raised difficulties over the years in allowing treatment for their problems, despite their history of violent offenses of the past seven years.