Security officials in Israel are getting more concerned about the problem of Jewish settler violence. Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, top spokesman for the Israeli Defense Forces, warned this morning that settler violence is spurring more Palestinian violence. Speaking with Ynet news site during a live broadcast, Hagari said that amid a rise in Palestinian terrorism in the West Bank in recent months, “there has also been an increase in nationalist crime and nationalist terror.”
“It’s terrorism, there’s no other way to say it,” said Hagari, reported the Times of Israel. “Let there be no doubt, these things spur the civilian [Palestinian] population to terror. The nationalist crime and nationalist terror … push civilians in the Palestinian Authority who are not involved in terror—to terror,” he said. “This phenomenon needs to be addressed. As soon as this phenomenon is avoided, there will be less terrorism in general,” Hagari added.
Hagari was speaking following the arrest of two settlers on Aug. 4 for the killing of a 19-year-old Palestinian man. The settlers are claiming self-defense, but the government indictment accuses them of “deliberate or depraved-indifference homicide” with a racist motivation. The U.S. State Department strongly denounced the killing in a statement issued Aug. 5. “We strongly condemn yesterday’s terror attack by Israeli extremist settlers that killed a 19-year old Palestinian,” the statement said, urging “full accountability and justice.”
Settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank has been surging since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition took power at the end of December. Citing official statistics, Times of Israel reports that there had been 680 incidents of stone-throwing or assaults against Palestinians by settlers in the first six months of 2023, compared to 950 in all of 2022. This includes 25 “serious attacks” involving arson against homes and mosques, some of which resulted in Palestinian casualties, compared to the same number in all of 2023.
