17 right-wing suspects arrested over stoning attack in West Bank town last month
Arrests made in settlement communities, Jerusalem and in north after convoy of cars stoned Palestinian street in Huwara
The Israel Police on Wednesday arrested 17 right-wing Jewish suspects believed to have been in a convoy of cars that last month stoned a street in the West Bank Palestinian town of Huwara, causing injuries and damage.
Arrests were made in West Bank settlements, Jerusalem, and in the north of the country, police said in a statement.
Those detained are suspected of assault, participating in a prohibited gathering, and damage to property for racist reasons.
The suspects were to be questioned and brought for remand hearings as necessary, police said.
A covert investigation was launched after the January 24 incident, in which some 30 vehicles formed a convoy to escort home a resident of the Yitzhar settlement who had been jailed for attacking Palestinians.
The procession drove through Huwara, where some of the participants, armed with clubs, exited their vehicles and began throwing stones, causing damage to property and injury to Palestinians, police said.
The incident was caught on video, which showed the convoy moving slowly along a main street in the town. Some of those who jumped out of the vehicles were wearing masks.
Settler convoy parades through northern West Bank Palestinian town of Hawara, celebrating prison release of Israeli attacker who allegedly targeted area Palestinians, by hurling stones at storefronts and parked cars pic.twitter.com/pE3BEbhZQU
— Jacob Magid (@JacobMagid) January 24, 2022
תקרית אלימה בחווארה- שיירה של כמה נערים יהודים שעברו במקום (לרגל שחרור של אחד מהם) נקלעה לעימות עם הפלסטינים. הפלסטינים מספרים כי הנערים ידוי אבנים וגרמו נזק רב. הנערים מספרים מנגד שזרקו עליהם מטח אבנים כבד ממנו כמעט נפגעו ילדים.
כל הפרטים ב ynet pic.twitter.com/FmIa0Jxjgp
— Elisha Ben Kimon אלישע בן קימון (@elishabenkimon) January 24, 2022
Three Palestinians were lightly injured, and two shops and 20 cars were damaged, according to media reports at the time. The settlers claimed they were attacked by locals, and in response, they threw stones back.
In the wake of the incident, Defense Minister Benny Gantz pledged to act against recent acts of settler violence “with a strong hand.”
“Anyone who throws stones, torches vehicles, or uses weapons… is a terrorist and that is how we will treat them,” he said at the time.
“I recently convened a number of discussions on the subject, and we are in the midst of a process aimed at strengthening the forces on the ground, building up the force together with police and the Shin Bet, and concentrating operational and legal resources [in the effort],” Gantz said.
The settler that the convoy accompanied after his release from jail had been convicted of throwing stun grenades into Palestinian homes in the West Bank village of Sarta at the beginning of the year.
The defendant was arrested in February last year along with four other suspects in connection with the attack in the village on January 4. His name has not been published.
