B’Tselem and Rabbis for Human Rights decry settler attack on activists

Two Israeli NGOs denounce an attack in which settlers used sticks to beat two activists in the West Bank, calling the incident “state violence” and “Jewish terrorism.”

B’Tselem says “the unrestrained attacks carried out by settlers throughout the West Bank constitute state violence.”

“They are carried out with full backing, participation and assistance from state authorities, as part of a strategy of Israel’s apartheid regime seeking to advance and complete the takeover of Palestinian land,” it adds.

Avi Dabush, executive director of Rabbis for Human Rights, says “the blood of our friends is on the hands of those who support and finance Jewish terrorism, either directly, through the government or by turning a blind eye.”

He also condemns “the army’s impotence” in a statement that calls on “Israeli society to pull itself together … in order to put an end to this endemic terrorism.”