Israel’s government instigates settler pogroms against Palestinians

Mohammed Hanani looks at his burnt car following a settler attack that damaged vehicles and houses in the village of Beit Furik in the occupied West Bank on 4 December 2024

The Haaretz lead editorial on 5 December 2024:

When Defense Minister Israel Katz announced when he took office that would stop the use of administrative detention orders against settlers, the lawbreakers in the occupied territories immediately understood they had been given a green light to run amok. The spirit of the new commander is that there is no commander, that the extremist settlers are above the law, that the military, the Shin Bet security service and the police must obey them, that the blood of the Palestinians can be shed and that their land and assets are there for the taking.

Aware of Katz’s new policy, on Wednesday, dozens of settlers threw Molotov cocktails and set fire to homes and vehicles in the towns of Beit Furik and Hawara, near Nablus. Jihad Abu Ahmad, the head of the Hawara local council, said a man had been “wounded by an attack with clubs and stones” and told of “a house completely burned down. At the time, there were two children sleeping in the family home and eight other people.” A resident of Beit Furik described a Molotov cocktail thrown through her window, causing a fire. The residents “miraculously survived and managed to extricate themselves before the fire reached them.” It was not just Palestinians who were hurt. The military said that soldiers evacuating an illegal outpost Tuesday had been pelted with stones, leaving two Border Guards lightly wounded.

Beit Furik and Hawara’s “sin” was that the military dared to dismantle the illegal Hill 617 outpost, which was built on privately owned Palestinian land, to the displeasure of the lords of the land (Hagar Shezaf, Haaretz, December 4). The rioting, in the settlers’ eyes, was an appropriate response.

But Katz’s foolish decision, which assumes that from the perspective of the State of Israel, there is no such thing as a Jewish terrorist, is apparently not enough. The Jewish rioters also enjoy fruitful cooperation with the Judea and Samaria District Police. It was originally supposed to deal with Jewish crime in the occupied territories, but in fact, today it serves as set dressing for pogroms against Palestinians.

It is no coincidence that its commander, Commander Avishai Mualem, is suspected of leaking classified information to National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s office in exchange for Ben-Gvir advancing his career.

Mualem’s job is to deal with Jewish terrorism and nationalist crime in the West Bank. But senior Shin Bet officials say that since taking office, he has taken no action against nationalist crime. Sources in the security establishment say that “when Mualem speaks, it’s like hearing Ben-Gvir speak” (Josh Breiner, Haaretz, December 3).

If Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his reckless, extremist government have not sown enough destruction, they now seem to be determined to turn the West Bank into another war zone. Putting Katz in charge of the Defense Ministry has undermined the struggle against Jewish terror, Ben-Gvir has taken control of the police and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has been handed control of the Civil Administration. The three of them constitute a clear and present danger.

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