From the Liveblog of
Friday, August 16, 2024
‘Must stop’: White House calls on Israel to act against settler violence, after deadly rampage
Jacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief
The White House condemns the latest Israeli settler rampage in the West Bank and knocks Israeli authorities for routinely not intervening in time to prevent violence against Palestinians.
“Attacks by violent settlers against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank are unacceptable and must stop,” says a National Security Council spokesperson in a statement to The Times of Israel.
“Israeli authorities must take measures to protect all communities from harm. This includes intervening to stop such violence and holding all perpetrators of such violence to account,” the spokesperson adds in a statement.
Dozens of masked settlers participated in the riot through the northern West Bank village of Jit, with the Palestinian Authority health ministry reporting that a 23-year-old local was killed by “settlers’ bullets.” Israeli security sources said it was unclear who shot him.
The IDF announced it managed to detain one suspect in connection to the riot, which according to the Yesh Din rights group included the torching of at least four homes and six cars in Jit.
Indictments in such cases are rare and convictions even more so, in what has led the US and other Western countries to begin sanctioning Israeli settler extremists earlier this year.
