Uproar in Israel

Jewish settlers attack high-ranking officers

A Jewish settler provokes with a raised middle finger.

(Bild: AFP/HAZEM BADER)

A group of settlers chased Major General Avi Bluth and other officers in Hebron on Friday and blocked their way. According to the military, Bluth was insulted as a traitor. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has now moved out and sharply criticized the radical group. 

 "Any violence against officers and soldiers must be punished with the full force of the law," his office announced on Sunday. According to police reports, dozens of settlers, some of them masked, threw stones at soldiers and border police near the settlement of Itamar in the West Bank on Saturday.

Some settler youth groups reject the jurisdiction of the Israeli military in areas they consider to be under their control. However, top representatives of the settlers have repeatedly called for violence to have no place in their movement.

Violence is the order of the day
Palestinians in the West Bank have been repeatedly attacked by settlers. They are demanding the annexation of the area by Israel. The Israeli military is also supposed to protect Palestinians from attacks by militant settlers. Major General Bluth admitted in August that the army had failed to protect the population when settlers attacked a village inhabited by Palestinians. Palestinians have repeatedly stated that they are often the target of attacks by settlers. Israeli soldiers do little or nothing to protect them.

Most countries consider Jewish settlements built on Palestinian land conquered by Israel in the 1967 war to be illegal. Israel denies this, citing historical and biblical ties to the land. The Palestinians see the West Bank as part of a future independent state of their own. The Europeans and the USA are also calling for a two-state solution for Israelis and Palestinians.