IDF chief defends general who said West Bank village would pay ‘heavy price’ for shooting attack

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir strongly condemns what he calls an “inciting and disgraceful” attack against Central Command chief Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth, who sparked controversy by saying a West Bank village would “pay a heavy price” after a resident committed a shooting attack.

Zamir’s statement comes hours after the publication of a piece by firebrand Haaretz columnist Gideon Levy in which he castigates Bluth as a “general of bloodshed” and a “war criminal,” and terms him an “uberkommandant,” an apparent reference to a Nazi-style military rank.

Over the weekend, the army uprooted thousands of olive trees in the village of al-Mughayyir, covering some 300 dunams (74 acres), following the shooting attack last week by a resident of the village. A three-day curfew was also imposed on the area, lifted Sunday morning.

Bluth, visiting the scene last Thursday night, declared the village would “pay a heavy price” for the attack, language widely seen as implying collective punishment. In a clarification later, the IDF confirmed the uprooting but said it was an “operational necessity” to clear vegetation that had enabled the gunman to flee.

The military stressed that Bluth “acts out of operational considerations and in accordance with the law” and rejected claims of punitive intent. A senior officer added that Bluth instructed troops to distinguish between civilians and terrorists while aiming to minimize disruption to daily life in the area.

“General Bluth is a combat officer of the first order, moral and ethical, who has worked for years, day and night, for the security of the State of Israel and its residents, and specifically for the residents of Judea and Samaria,” Zamir says in the statement, using the biblical term for the West Bank. “Using this twisted imagery against him crosses every red line.”