Far-right MK smashes monument for Palestinian ‘martyrs’ during IDF-escorted West Bank tour

Far-right lawmaker Zvi Sukkot and several of his aides smashed a monument to slain Palestinians, many of them terrorists, with sledgehammers in the West Bank village of Madama on Tuesday morning, during a military-escorted tour, drawing denunciations from the army and politicians across the spectrum.

Footage first published by Palestinian media showed a soldier standing beside the Religious Zionism MK and the other men as they struck the monument, while other troops stood slightly further away beside an army vehicle.

The Israeli military said Sukkot’s trip had been authorized, but that the lawmaker and his aides had acted “deceptively and manipulatively” when they smashed the monument during the tour.

Sukkot later published his own footage of the destruction of the village’s “Martyrs’ Monument,” which lists the names of 10 Palestinians from the village with death dates ranging from 1930 to 2004. Faded letters on the bottom read: “Presented by the comrades in the Popular Front [for the Liberation of Palestine],” a Palestinian terror group responsible for numerous hijackings and massacres.

Photos published by Palestinian media after the incident showed that the monument remained standing but had been significantly damaged.

In a statement, Sukkot said he acted because the Israel Defense Forces had failed to remove the monument and others in the West Bank commemorating Palestinian terrorists, despite a request he had previously made.

“We will not lend a hand to a situation in which those who harmed Jews and IDF soldiers are commemorated as heroes,” he said, calling on the military to remove what he described as “all monuments to terrorism” across the West Bank.

Among those honored on the monument are Yaman Tayeb Ali Faraj, who Sukkot said was involved in a 2003 suicide bombing at the Geha Junction in central Israel in which four people were murdered and over 20 injured, and Shadi Nassar, a Palestinian suicide bomber who injured 14 in an attack at the Eshel HaShomron Hotel in the West Bank settlement of Ariel in 2002.

Faraj and Nassar were members of the PFLP’s armed wing, and are both listed as such on the monument, with Faraj described as “commander in chief.”

The December 25, 2003, suicide attack in Geha was claimed by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine terror group. Faraj was killed by a missile fired from an IDF helicopter while fleeing arrest near Nablus in July 2004. A Palestinian lecturer and his son were also killed in the arrest operation, according to Palestinian media.

The IDF said that on August 12, Sukkot requested authorization to conduct a “tour of monuments” in the villages of Beita, Burin and Madama, located in areas A and B of the West Bank — where Israelis are normally barred from entering without military coordination. The tour was conducted on Tuesday morning “under the security of IDF troops who were diverted from their duties for this mission.”

Though Sukkot had been scheduled to visit the villages of Burin and Beita, the tour was cut short following the incident in Madama.

“Contrary to the coordination, the participants acted deceptively and manipulatively, without authority and in complete violation of the approved outline, and began demolishing one of the memorials in the village of Madama,” the army said.

While footage showed soldiers standing by during the destruction, the IDF said that when troops saw what was happening, they notified their commanders, who then instructed the forces to halt the tour and take the MK and his aides out of the village.

عضو كنيست الاحتلال تسبي سوكوت يقتحم بحماية جيش الاحتلال قرية مادما جنوب نابلس ويحطم صرح الشهداء pic.twitter.com/2CblqYtLau

— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) August 25, 2026

The military did not explain why it had approved the tour to begin with, which it said diverted troops that had been “assigned to operational missions in the area,” and also “unnecessarily put them at risk, all while the IDF is under operational strain.”

“The IDF views the conduct and lack of coordination by the MK gravely and as an exploitation of the security provided by the security forces for a complete overstepping of authority,” the military said.

The IDF said that it “regularly demolishes memorials and symbols of incitement,” subject to authorization, and that it was planning another such operation soon. “This is an important activity in the fight against terrorism and incitement to terrorism,” it said.

Madama has been the target of several recent settler attacks. This month, settlers damaged the village’s electrical grid, while in May, seven Palestinians were hospitalized after a violent settler attack.

The army’s presence during Tuesday’s incident comes amid longstanding criticism that IDF troops have condoned or even encouraged violent acts and property damage against Palestinians in the West Bank.

Soldiers have repeatedly been filmed standing by without intervening during similar incidents of settler violence.

Condemnation across political spectrum

A number of politicians from both sides of the aisle, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, condemned the incident; however, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich partially defended the actions of the MK from his party.

“The IDF is the sovereign authority in Judea and Samaria and is responsible for implementing the decisions of the political leadership,” the Prime Minister’s Office said in a Hebrew-language statement, using the biblical term for the West Bank.

“Taking the law into one’s own hands, particularly by public officials, is unacceptable and interferes with the IDF’s ability to focus on its missions against terrorism and incitement,” the PMO added.

Yashar chairman Gadi Eisenkot, Netanyahu’s main rival in October 27’s elections, wrote on X that Sukkot’s behavior “is a disgrace for anyone who claims to represent the public and be a leader. He lied to and misled the IDF and its commanders, compromised security, and tarnished the entire State of Israel.”

Eisenkot also slammed Netanyahu, declaring that the premier had “dismantled the system that enabled security and governance in Judea and Samaria” while “allowing anarchists like Zvi Sukkot and his ilk to do whatever they please, endangering security in the settlements and harming Israel’s standing in the world.”

Former prime minister Naftali Bennett argued in a statement that Netanyahu’s “government of chaos is harming Israel’s security and Israel’s standing in the world in order to gain views on TikTok,” declaring that “terrorism is fought with actions, not with pathetic provocations.”

Sukkot, “like any other Knesset member, is not the sovereign in the territories of Judea and Samaria,” Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar wrote on X. Decisions to demolish such monuments must be made by the state and carried out by “the IDF and the security forces, and by them alone,” he said.

In a statement, Smotrich appeared to agree with critics that such actions should only be taken by the military, but was quick to blast the opposition leaders for their comments.

“What should truly disturb us is the frantic rush of the left-wing opposition leaders to condemn MK Sukkot rather than terrorism itself,” Smotrich asserted, accusing the opposition of intending to “form a government with overt supporters of terrorism, evacuate the settlements and farms we have established in Judea and Samaria, and establish a terrorist state in the heart of the country.

“That is the only thing that should disturb any sane person who desires to live in the State of Israel today,” he added.

However, critics of Sukkot reportedly also included Religious Zionism faction chair Ohad Tal, who, according to Channel 12, questioned his colleague’s behavior in an internal party forum, asking if there was “some deep strategy here that I’m completely missing, or did we just decide to commit suicide?”

A history of provocation

Sukkot has previously attracted controversy over similar actions.

In July, Sukkot, who chairs the Knesset’s Education Committee, filmed himself smashing the sign of a Palestinian school in the Old City of Jerusalem, pledging to shut down the institution over its use of a Palestinian Authority curriculum.

A month earlier, he toured the Arab city of Umm al-Fahm in northern Israel and hung an Israeli flag outside one of its schools amid a strike by the city’s education system against his visit.

In May, Sukkot, who heads a Knesset subcommittee, requested of the military to carry out a “professional oversight tour” of Joseph’s Tomb in Nablus. However, the tour ultimately became a political and media event, and was condemned by IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir for wasting the military’s resources.

Sukkot was also among far-right protesters who rioted outside and stormed the IDF’s Sde Teiman military base in July 2024, demanding that the Military Police free reservists arrested on suspicion of severely abusing a Gazan detainee held there.

Shortly after the incident, Sukkot told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, “I was doing my job,” and adding to The Times of Israel that his accreditation as a Knesset member “gives me the right to enter any place in the State of Israel.”

He was questioned under caution by police last November over his role in the break-in.

The lawmaker has also played a prominent role in efforts to expand civilian Israeli authority in the West Bank. He helped advance a controversial bill that would extend civil control over archaeological and heritage sites. The bill drew criticism from Palestinians and Israeli rights groups that said it was tantamount to annexation of Palestinian territory and would expand Jewish settlements.

Amid the controversy, the bill’s progress through the Knesset was halted in June, reportedly by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Nava Freiberg contributed to this report.