Jewish terror is endangering Israel: security chief

Masked settlers attacked two Palestinian West Bank villages on Saturday, wounding at least two people and damaging property.

The attacks are the latest in a rash of violent outbreaks in which Jewish settlers in the West Bank have burned Palestinian homes and cars, thrown Molotov cocktails and rocks, and stolen stock.

Several Palestinians have died in the clashes, the latest Rashid Sedda, 22, who was killed by gunfire from a settler riot in the village of Jit on August 15. Many others have been injured.

Condemnation of the settlers’ behaviour has been mounting, as the rampages have increased in frequency and severity since 7 October 2023.

The head of the Shin Bet security service Ronen Bar wrote to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week warning that Jewish terrorism is endangering Israel's existence.

The leaders of the Jewish terrorists "want to cause the system to lose control, causing indescribable damage to Israel," Bar wrote.

Bar blamed police incompetence and "perhaps a sense of hidden support" for increased violence from settlers and a failure to arrest offenders. He also blamed MKs who support the settlers, including financially.

“The damage to the State of Israel, especially now and to the vast majority of the settlers, is indescribable: global delegitimisation, even among our greatest allies; spreading thin the IDF’s personnel which is already struggling to keep up with all its missions and which wasn’t intended to deal with this; vengeful attacks that are sparking another front in the multi-front war we are in; putting more players into the cycle of terror; a slippery slope to the feeling of a lack of governance; another obstacle to creating local alliances that we need against the Shiite axis; and above all, a massive stain on Judaism and us all,” he wrote.

Many countries including Australia and the US have condemned the violence and placed sanctions on extremists groups such as the Hilltop Youth and on individuals who are leading the violence.

Until now, the organised Jewish community has largely avoided engaging with the issue. But last week the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ), the umbrella body for Australian Jewish organisations passed the following resolution:

The ECAJ joins with Israel's President Isaac Herzog and senior leaders of the Israeli government in condemning the recent lawless and provocative behaviour by elements of the settler movement in physically attacking Palestinians in the West Bank and destroying their property.  Such conduct is criminal under Israeli law and is completely antithetical to Jewish values and the values upon which the State of Israel was founded.

We also express our concern and dismay at the inflammatory statements expressed by extremist political and other elements in Israel relating to the population of Gaza as a whole, which has contributed to the violence.

We call upon the government of Israel, for the sake of justice and in the interests of Israel and the Jewish people, to do all within its power to apprehend the perpetrators and deal with them according to law.

While many welcomed the statement, others felt it did not go far enough by failing to condemn support from within Netanyahu’s coalition for the settlers or by sheeting home blame to the government and the IDF for failing to stop the violence.  

After the Jit attack, Netanyahu’s office said he viewed the incident “with severity,” but framed the actions as an attempt to fight terror, rather than as terrorism in and of itself, saying, “those who fight terrorism are only the IDF and security forces, not anyone else”.

President Isaac Herzog issued a statement saying he “strongly condemns” the riot but defending the settler movement.

“This is an extreme minority that harms the law-abiding community of [settlers] and the settlement movement as a whole, in addition to harming the global reputation of Israel during a particularly sensitive and difficult period,” Herzog said.

Others in the government have been more outspoken. Defence Minister Yoav Gallant described Ben Gvir on Friday as causing “indescribable damage” to Israel by encouraging Jewish extremists in the West Bank and elsewhere.

“In the face of Minister Ben Gvir’s irresponsible actions that endanger Israel’s national security and create internal division in the nation, the head of the Shin Bet and his people are carrying out their duties and warning of the grave consequences of these acts,” Gallant wrote on X.

A Haaretz editorial was even more direct. “As long as National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich remain in the government, it will be impossible to fight Jewish terror. As long as the former is in charge of the police and the latter is in charge of the occupied territories, Jewish terror will know that it has the backing of higher authorities.”

Also under fire is the IDF, with debate as to whether soldiers could be doing more to protect Palestinian villagers.

Preliminary findings of an investigation into the Jit riot reveal that an IDF force deployed to calm the tensions in the village did not act with enough determination to prevent the settlers’ riots.

The investigation indicated that some soldiers simply stood by whereas others tried to assist the village’s residents, for example by helping evacuate a Palestinian family out of a burning house.

READ MORE

Shin Bet chief warns Netanyahu, ministers that Jewish terror endangering Israel (Times of Israel)

Shin Bet Chief warns PM and ministers: Jewish terror is jeopardizing Israel's existence (Haaretz)

Backing Shin Bet chief, Gallant says Ben Gvir endangering Israel’s security (Times of Israel)

Haaretz Editorial | Jewish terror has exploded, and nothing is standing in its way. It may bring Israel down (Haaretz)

Masked Israeli settlers attack two Palestinian West Bank villages in separate incidents (Haaretz)

IDF probes settler violence in Jit amid global condemnation (Jerusalem Post)