17 settlers arrested for attacking cops near illegal outpost, setting fire to police car

Dozens of Israeli settlers from the illegal Givat Habaladim outpost attacked police officers and set fire to a cop car last night.

Police say they arrested 17 wedding attendees near the outpost, located near Kochav Hashachar in the northern West Bank, after they assaulted a cop who was called to deal with a noise complaint from the event.

“When the patrol car arrived to handle the noise nuisance, dozens of rioters began throwing stones at it,” a spokesman says. Settlers punctured its tires before setting the vehicle on fire.

In response, an officer fired several bullets into the air and called additional forces to the area, who later arrested the 17 suspects.

Settler leader Yisrael Ganz, head of the Binyamin Regional Council whose jurisdiction includes the illegal outpost, denounces the attack on police and alleges the assailants hail from outside the region.

“Such crime and violence should be met with an iron fist. It seems that the drunken young men came from outside Binyamin, and I expect and ask the police to get their hands on everyone who was involved,” he says to Israel Hayom.

Following the incident, a joint investigation was opened by the Shin Bet and the West Bank District’s investigations and intelligence unit.