U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have called for an immediate end to incitement blamed for a recent deadly wave of Palestinian attacks against Israelis.

As they met Thursday in Berlin, Kerry called for an end to all incitement and all violence but Netanyahu pointedly repeated that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is to blame, saying he is “spreading lies” about Israel and the status of the holy site at the centre of the tensions.

“There is no question this wave of attacks is driven directly by incitement, incitement by Hamas, incitement from the Islamist movement in Israel and incitement, I am sorry to say, from President Abbas and the Palestinian Authority,” Netanyahu said.

“I think it is time for the international community to say clearly to President Abbas to stop spreading lies about Israel. Lies that Israel wants to change the status quo at the Temple Mount, lies that Israel wants to tear down the Al-Aqsa Mosque, lies that Israel is executing Palestinians. All of that is false.”

He said Israel is committed to keeping the status quo at the Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism and home to the biblical Temples. For Muslims, it is the Noble Sanctuary, home to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third-holiest site in Islam.

Netanyahu said ending incitement was the only way to ease tensions.

“To generate hope, we have to stop the terrorism,” he said. “To stop the terrorism, we have to stop the incitement and I think it’s time the international community told Pres Abbas to stop the incitement and hold him accountable for his words and his deeds.”

Kerry was more circumspect and did not single out Abbas for blame.

“We have to stop the incitement, we have to stop the violence,” he said, adding that he had spoken to Abbas and Jordan’s King Abdullah, in the past day and both assured them of their commitment to calm.

“I believe people want this to de-escalate,” he said of Abbas and Abdullah, whom he will meet on Saturday in Amman.

Kerry added that these conversations would be “very important to settle on the steps that can be taken beyond the condemnation and beyond the rhetoric” to end the violence.

Kerry has said he wants clarity about the status quo about the site, but officials say he doesn’t believe that needs to be in writing.

Kerry also met with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini.

In the German capital Israel’s prime minister met also with Mogherini.

An EU spokesperson said the agenda for Mogherini will also include “the long stalemate in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, the crises in Syria and in the entire region.

“Furthermore, the HRFA (Mogherini) plans to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the coming days,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

So far the current wave of Arab terrorism in Israel has left 10 Israelis dead and more than 112 wounded.