After IDF raid, far-right MK suspended from Twitter for call to 'keep killing them'

Almog Cohen of the Otzma Yehudit party was praising IDF for operation in Jenin in which 9 Palestinians were killed, says it’s clear he was referring to terrorists, not bystanders

Far-right MK Almog Cohen was temporarily suspended from Twitter on Friday after tweeting his support for a deadly IDF raid and urging them to “keep killing them.”

Cohen, of the Otzma Yehudit party, was reacting to an incursion in Jenin on Thursday in which nine Palestinian, among them an elderly woman, were killed during fierce clashes between Israeli troops and gunmen. Palestinians identified several of the dead as members of terror factions.

Following the news of the raid, the deadliest in the West Bank in years, Cohen tweeted: “Good and professional work by the fighters in Jenin, keep killing them.”

Twitter said the tweet violated their terms of service.

Cohen on Friday condemned Twitter, calling it “the worst kind of censorship.”

“It is clear to everybody that my intention was for terrorists involved and not bystanders,” he said, reiterating his call to “keep killing them.”

In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces said troops entered the Jenin refugee camp to foil imminent attack plans by a local wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group.

“This squad was a ticking time bomb. If we didn’t act, they would have,” a senior IDF officer told reporters.