Former settlement chief charged with threatening Palestinians with assault rifle

Prosecutors indict the former head of Yitzhar’s local council after he allegedly threatened Palestinians driving in Huwara with an army-issued assault rifle during a settler attack on the West Bank town earlier this month.

Uriah Cohen, a resident of Yitzhar who runs a farm just south of Huwara, allegedly drove with an accomplice into the heart of the town, both armed with assault rifles, then blocked the path of a Palestinian car, causing a minor crash.

At this point, the pair of Israelis disembarked and ordered the occupants to exit the vehicle. Uriah shot in the air “with the goal of frightening the passengers,” the State Attorney’s Office says.

The Palestinian driver stepped on the gas. According to the indictment, Cohen’s masked accomplice then shot at the car itself as it fled.

The incident occurred during a June 6 raid on the village by a group of settler extremists and at least one soldier that left nine residents injured, according to Palestinian reports.

Prosecutors note that other assailants — including the masked man who accompanied Cohen and another man in army fatigues — stopped another car in the village, forced the two men inside to exit and proceeded to beat them relentlessly. The two Palestinian men were severely injured as a result of the attack.

The masked man’s identity is not known to authorities.

Cohen owns Tzofnat Farm, an illegally built outpost that the government resolved in late May to recognize as a legitimate settlement, according to i24 News.

Cohen claimed to investigators that he had entered Huwara that day to search for his flock of sheep that went missing, prosecutors say.

Though he was released to house arrest earlier this week, the State Attorney’s Office requests that the court order him back into police custody and keep him detained until the end of proceedings.