Army caught out by settler ‘pogrom’, says West Bank chief

Published: 3 March 2023

Last updated: 5 March 2024

Israel army chief promises thorough investigation; Smotrich says Hawara should be ‘wiped out’; MK investigated for inciting terrorism.

The IDF’s Commander-in-Chief Herzi Halevi has vowed to “thoroughly investigate” the settler rampage in Huwara last Sunday night.

One Palestinian was killed and four seriously injured when about 400 of settlers rampaged through the West Bank village in the attack, torching homes and cars.

The attacks came in a wave of fury over the killing of brothers Hallel Yaniv, 21, and Yagel Yaniv, 19, who were murdered by a Palestinian gunman.

Major General Yehuda Fuchs, who oversees the West Bank, described the rampage as a “pogrom” that caught the military off-guard.

“What happened in Huwara was a pogrom carried out by law-breakers,” Fuchs said in a television interview. “We were not ready for a pogrom on the scale of dozens of people with flammable material and the means to set it on fire, heading to 20 or more places — as well as confronting soldiers and commanders and police at the junction — and setting random Palestinian homes and cars on fire.”

Fuchs also said he was worried clashes between soldiers and settlers would eventually lead to Israelis being killed. He accused the Jewish extremists of “spreading terror.”

Settler violence towards Palestinians has doubled under Israel’s new government and clashes between soldiers and settlers are also increasing. In one incident this week settlers tried to ram their car into soldiers in Huwara.

Eight suspects were arrested on the night of the attacks. Three were placed under house arrest and the rest have been released. An additional eight suspects were arrested on Wednesday.

Incitement by MKs

Far-Right MKs continued to fan the flames of hate in the wake of the attacks.

On Wednesday Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called for the destruction of Hawara.

“The village of Hawara needs to be wiped out. I think that the State of Israel needs to do that – not, God forbid, private individuals,” Bezalel Smotrich said when asked why he had “liked” a tweet by the deputy head of the Samaria Regional Council, Davidi Ben Zion, who called for Hawara to be “wiped out today”.

Israeli Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara has approved the opening of an investigation into a member of the Israeli government coalition on suspicion of incitement to terrorism after he made comments in support of the settler attacks.

In an interview on Monday morning on Galei Israel radio, Otzma Yehudit MK Zvika Fogel, who is the chairman of the National Security Committee of the Knesset, praised the ‘effect of deterrence’ achieved by the attacks.

Prominent Israeli lawmakers have also called for an investigation into Smotrich and Limor Son Har Hamelech, another Otzma Yehudit, who went to Hawara on Sunday evening, saying that she did so in order to "support the just demands of hundreds of West Bank residents who are protesting and demanding security."

Burned cars which were set on fire by Jewish settlers in Hawara. Following a terror attack on Sunday in which two Israelis were killed by a Palestinian gunman, hundreds of Jewish settlers pursued revenge in the village of Hawara in a violent rampage. Hundreds of Palestinian cars were torched and over 30 buildings were set on fire. The event is referred to in Israel as the Hawara Pogrom. (Photo by Matan Golan / SOPA Images/Sipa USA)

International outrage

The Biden administration called on Israel to pursue with "equal rigour” the Israeli perpetrators as it does with Palestinian terrorism, prosecute those responsible and provide compensation.

State Department spokesperson Ned Price described Smotrich’s as incitement to violence.

"I want to be very clear about this. These comments were irresponsible. They were repugnant. They were disgusting. And just as we condemn Palestinian incitement to violence, we condemn these provocative remarks that also amounts to incitement to violence," he said.

Diaspora Jewish bodies from all sides of the religious and political spectrum condemned the violence.

Rabbi Moshe Hauer, Executive Vice President of the mainstream US-based Orthodox Union called on Jews to “speak consistently and clearly, pledging security and a decisive response to those who commit acts of terror and violence against Jews, but absolutely condemning and decrying indiscriminate violence committed by Jews against anyone, anywhere. What happened [in Huwara] must never, ever happen again.”

The Rabbinical Assembly, the international association of Conservative/Masorti rabbis, said the settlers’ actions “harmed Jewish sovereignty and constitute a danger to the existence of the Jewish state”.

Australian Jewish organisation also expressed concerns about the mob attacks at Huwara, in the context of expressing their grief over the murders of the Yaniv brothers.

ZFA President Jeremy Leibler said he was appalled at the murders of the Yaniv brothers and disgusted at the scenes of Palestinian street parties celebrating them. He also condemned the mob that attacked the Palestinian town of Huwara in retaliation.

“The mob violence we saw in Huwara was antithetical to what Israel is, and we condemn it outright. The memory of Hallal and Yagel should not have ben besmirched by the violent rampage of this mob.”

AIJAC also put out a statement expressing dismay at increasing terrorism but condemning the riots.

“Nothing can justify the violence perpetrated against innocent Palestinian residents of Huwara and their property on Sunday night by a mob of some 400 rioters, who appear to have mostly been settlers. Such vigilante violence… is criminal behaviour contrary to both Israeli law and Jewish values,” said AIJAC Executive Director Dr. Colin Rubenstein.

Israeli Army Chief: We Should Have Prevented Settlers' Rampage at Hawara (Haaretz)

Police detain eight more suspects over extremist settler rampage in Huwara (Times of Israel)

IDF chief vows to probe ‘lawlessness’ (Times of Israel)

Israeli Legal Experts to AG: Investigate Smotrich for ‘Inducing War Crimes’ (Haaretz)

Settler extremists are sowing terror, Huwara riot was a ‘pogrom,’ top general says (Times of Israel)

US calls on Israel to hold settlers responsible for Hawara rampage to account (Axios)

US condemns Smotrich's 'repugnant, disgusting' call for Israel to wipe out Palestinian village (Haaretz)

In rare move, leading US-Jewish groups strongly condemn Israeli settler violence (Haaretz)

ANALYSIS
Netanyahu is sinking to new lows, and taking Israel down with him (Yossi Verter, Haaretz)
On the Jewish pogrom of Palestinians in the Hebrew year 5783, Netanyahu's tepid condemnation was outdone only by his cynical exploitation of bereavement of the Israeli parents, who lost two sons in the West Bank terror attack. The rot has spread to almost every institution in Israel, and shows no sign of abating.

Two months before its 75th Independence Day, Israel is being torn apart (Anshel Pfeffer, Haaretz)
Israel’s Independence Day celebrations have generated their fair share of controversies in the past, but none will rival the ugly scenes we will likely see this April

Netanyahu is shattering Israeli society (Thomas L. Friedman, New York Times)
Israel has never experienced a Palestinian intifada, a Jewish settler intifada and an Israeli citizen judicial intifada all at once. But that’s begun to unfold since Netanyahu’s far-right government took office.

How the Israeli settler rampage was emboldened by the new far-Right government (Jonathan Guyer, Vox)
Settlers torched a Palestinian village. What that says about Israel today.

Photo: Israeli settlers burn Palestinian homes, vehicles, and businesses during a rampage in the West Bank town of Huwara (Activestills)