Israeli forces overwhelmed by violent settlers in ‘terrorist attack’ on Palestinian family | West Bank

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said Israeli settler violence in the West Bank has made daily life for Palestinians “untenable”, as a mass attack on Palestinians trying to return home prompted one of Benjamin Netanyahu’s main rivals to warn of a campaign of settler terror.

More than 100 militant settlers overwhelmed Israeli security forces early Tuesday to attack a Palestinian family as they tried to reclaim their homes that had been seized by settlers in the West Bank village of Jalud. Three Israeli security officials were injured and homes were burned.

The impotence of the Israeli army, the scale of the assault and the injuries inflicted on Israeli security agents by the settlers drew particularly harsh condemnation from Israeli politicians and commentators.

Israel is facing unprecedented international pressure over a surge in violence in the occupied West Bank, where settler activists backed by ministers have accelerated a campaign of ethnic cleansing in the run-up to next month’s Israeli elections.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog condemned Jalud’s attacks, calling them a “moral stain.” Gadi Eisenkot, a former military leader and Netanyahu’s main challenger in the upcoming election, called for measures to end a “campaign of terror and violence.”

Deadlier attacks by Israeli settlers, including those targeting Palestinian children, have attracted less attention in Israel.

“Palestinian rights or security are not a concern, even for people who are in opposition,” said Mairav ​​Zonszein, senior analyst on Israel-Palestine at the International Crisis Group. “Settler violence is a problem (for them) because it gives a bad image of Israel, as well as the idea that the army is losing control.”

The ICRC said the attacks, settlement expansion and severe restrictions on movement made daily life untenable for Palestinian civilians, whom Israel has a responsibility to protect under international law. .

“We must put an end to the frequent and serious violence,” declared Julien Lerisson, head of the ICRC delegation for Israel and Palestine. “What international humanitarian law says about the protection of private and public property and the population’s access to essential services must be respected.

A ban on imports of settlement goods came into force last week in the Netherlands, the United Kingdom announced plans to further control settlement trade and financing, and a similar bill will be introduced in the US Parliament on Thursday.

On Tuesday, a Senate bill requiring a human rights report on Israel’s occupation of the West Bank was narrowly defeated after gaining support from all but one Democrat.

“Tonight, disaster has been averted, but the barrier has been broken,” Israeli analyst Roy Sharon wrote on social media after the vote, warning that “anarchy in the West Bank” could deprive Israel of U.S. military aid and international legitimacy.

A cartoon published Wednesday in Israel’s largest-circulation newspaper, Yedioth Ahronoth, showed two soldiers observing an arson attack on a Palestinian home. “They’re going to ruin my trip to Amsterdam,” one said to the other.

More than 60 Palestinian communities in the occupied West Bank have been wiped off the map since October 2023 and 18 others have been partially displaced, according to the Israeli rights association B’Tselem. Nearly 5,000 people were forced to leave their homes, almost half of them children.

The Tubasi family, whose homes were burned in Jalud, was driven out this summer after a week of siege by settler activists. Last week, they won a High Court ruling ordering the Israeli state to expel the settlers and ensure their return.

On Monday evening, the Israeli army told the family that around 15 military police officers would immediately escort them home, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported. This is a small number given that Israel celebrates the holiday of Sukkot. The number of violent extremists in illegal settlements typically increases during festivals, and within minutes of arriving, these forces were outnumbered by a violent crowd.

“Carrying out an operation like this, and during the Sukkot holiday, when the (settler) outposts are crowded, is madness,” said a security source. The military had not informed the national police and the Shin Bet domestic intelligence service of their plans, and therefore had no security support.

The settlers attacked a house when the Tubasi family arrived, forcing them onto the roof, before the military decided to evacuate them in armored military vehicles. The crowd then set fire to homes, blocked roads and threw stones at Israeli security forces, injuring three personnel.

Both houses “were damaged beyond description,” Wael Tubasi said. “They damaged everything: doors, tiles were removed, stairs were removed. They broke the bathrooms, doors and windows. They left nothing, everything was broken,” he told Reuters.

Earlier this year, former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert called on the International Criminal Court to intervene to end settler violence because the state had failed.

Netanyahu condemned the “violent riots” and called for prosecution of the attackers, but defended the illegal settler movement. “The handful of rioters are not representative of the law-abiding settler public in Judea and Samaria,” the prime minister said, using an Israeli term for the occupied West Bank.

A landmark 2024 ruling by the UN International Court of Justice found that the occupation violated international law, a position the British government endorsed.

An Israeli military spokesman said two suspects had been arrested and called for action to combat settler militants who have targeted Israeli security forces.

“Violence directed against soldiers in the line of duty crosses a clear red line and is unacceptable,” the spokesperson said. “There is no place for such incidents in the State of Israel, and they must not become the norm. Such phenomena must be addressed at the root.”

On Wednesday, some in Israel questioned whether the military and state had the capacity to do so. “We must face reality: this is a terrorist attack and a failure of the Israeli defense establishment as a whole,” Avi Ashkenazi wrote in the Maariv newspaper. “It is clear at this point that the true rulers of Judea and Samaria are the far-right terrorist militants. »