IDF chief: Troops must ‘act immediately and not stand by’ in face of attacks by settlers

Amid a rise in attacks by extremist Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank in recent months, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir says troops must not “stand by.”

“Alongside determined fighting against terrorism and strengthening security and Jewish settlement, we are required to strictly uphold law and order and to prevent crime of all kinds, including nationalist crime. These do not strengthen security; they harm the settlement [movement], the IDF, and the State of Israel,” Zamir says at a handover ceremony for the chief of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, known as COGAT.

“IDF commanders and soldiers, as well as the other security organizations, have both an operational and moral duty to act immediately and not stand by when they detect illegal acts by violent groups, and to protect uninvolved civilian populations,” he says.

Zamir says incoming COGAT chief Maj. Gen. Yoram Halevi, together with the IDF Central Command, Israel Police, and Shin Bet, “bear from this moment the command responsibility to warn and act to prevent this phenomenon without fear.”

“I am confident that your experience will assist in this,” he adds.