A group of retired Israelis generals and other officers of equivalent rank has called on President Trump to pressure Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to curb “Jewish terror” against Palestinians in the West Bank. “Unless arrested swiftly and decisively, escalating violence in the West Bank is poised to ignite the region and carries severe ramifications for both Israeli security and U.S. regional interests,” they warn in a letter published on July 27–the day before Netanyahu was to meet in Washington–by lobby group Commanders for Israel’s Security (CIS). “It is our professional judgment that no one but you, Mr. President, can avert this calamity.”
“It is no secret that certain members of our current government orchestrate much of this chaos, including by shielding their followers—who are armed and driven by messianic impulses—from the law and its enforcement,” the letter continues, obviously referring government ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir. “As a result, our successors at the helm of Israel’s security services face an impossible dilemma: follow their professional judgment and duty, which demand determined law enforcement, or adhere to the directives of political leadership, as is required in a democracy.”
“Should the rising swell in Jewish settler terror activity and the government policy of choking the Palestinian Authority (financially and otherwise) continue, the consequences may prove even more catastrophic than the October 7 Hamas atrocities and its multi-front fallout,” the letter warns. “This trajectory threatens to devastate Israeli security, undermine U.S. interests, and shatter regional stability.”
