Report: IDF Central Command chief warns ‘Jewish terrorism’ could spark Palestinian uprising

IDF Central Command chief Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth warns that rising settler violence in the West Bank could spark a Palestinian uprising, according to Haaretz.

Describing the phenomenon as “Jewish terrorism,” Bluth cautions that “it’s quite a miracle the Palestinian public is still indifferent… but it won’t remain indifferent forever,” Haaretz reports, citing remarks he made in a closed forum.

Bluth reportedly says he recently warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his cabinet that while overall Palestinian terror levels are low, tensions are building beneath the surface.

“The coffee brewing is a good coffee – the level of terrorism is at its lowest – but there’s a constant simmer and we don’t know where it will spill over. And when it spills over, it spills quickly,” he says.

He also points to a direct link between settler attacks and Palestinian violence, saying, “We know today of people [Palestinians] who were harmed in ‘price tag’ attacks and immediately afterward went out to carry out an attack.”

The price tag term is used by extremist Jews to describe attacks carried out against Palestinians, the military, and other targets as retribution for Israeli government decisions they perceive as being oriented against settlers.

According to Haaretz, Bluth argues that much of the violence originates from unauthorized outposts and describes perpetrators as “fringe anarchist youth,” adding that their actions are “infuriating” and “causing unimaginable damage to the State of Israel and the Zionist enterprise.”

The general also criticizes what he describes as weak law enforcement, saying punishments handed down to suspects were “a joke” and failed to deter further attacks.

Bluth says that some settlers had sought to exploit the war with Iran to escalate violence, saying they believed it was “the time to conquer Area A.”

He adds that “these people don’t see Arabs as human beings and think they can burn people, burn homes with their occupants – and unfortunately they do so time and again,” calling the phenomenon “a disgrace to the Jewish people” and noting that he is personally “ashamed” of the matter.