Israeli woman convicted of inciting attacks on soldiers, Palestinians
Eliraz Fein, of the Yitzhar settlement, wrote online calling for violence, praising deadly firebombing of Dawabsha family
An Israeli woman was convicted Tuesday of incitement to violence over social media posts calling for violent action against Palestinians and Israeli soldiers.
Eliraz Fein, a resident of the West Bank settlement of Yitzhar, south of Nablus, pleaded guilty to all counts against her at the Petah Tikva Magistrate’s Court in central Israel.
Yitzhar is regarded as among the most extreme of Israeli settlements. Over the years, residents have clashed with members of the Israeli security forces and local Palestinians.
The charge sheet against Fein cited an online debate that took place after a series of violent altercations between the army and settlement residents. Residents were mulling the legality — according to Jewish law — of attacking, and even killing, IDF soldiers “under certain circumstances.”
In the conversation, which took place in the settlement’s closed email group, the settlers debated whether Jewish law permits violence against Jewish soldiers, with some saying that violence, even lethal force, was permitted when soldiers were engaged in certain actions.
Fein spoke out in favor of hurling rocks at Jews — “even if the rock causes the death of a soldier.” She said that while the legitimacy of throwing rocks at Arabs was not in question, in “certain situations” it was permissible to hurl them at Jews as well.
She vowed to “defend” rock-throwers from the settlement in public “against any outside body,” and to only criticize them in private if she thought their actions merited criticism.
In addition, following the murder in July 2014 of East Jerusalem teen Muhammad Abu Khdeir by Israeli extremists who kidnapped him and burned him alive, Fein wrote on Facebook, “I am proud and happy to discover that there are Jews who couldn’t stand by and be silent! I send a blessing of strength and courage to those arrested (whom I don’t know at all) who are suspected of murdering the Arab of the Abu Khdeir family.”
She also posted celebratory messages after the torching of the Church of the Multiplication of Fishes and Loaves in June 2015 by suspected Jewish extremists, and praised the torching of the Dawabsha home in the nearby village of Duma in late July 2015, in which three members of a Palestinian family were murdered, as “a proper and appropriate act.”
“It’s very appropriate and honorable in my eyes to harm Arab property,” she wrote of the attack, which killed an 18-month-old Palestinian baby and his parents.
