From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, October 21, 2025
Report: West Bank police chief tells officers image of settler beating elderly woman ‘kept me up at night’
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleThe head of West Bank police has instructed commanders in his district to bring to justice a masked settler who assaulted a Palestinian woman with a club Sunday morning, Channel 12 news has reported.
In an internal WhatsApp group, Deputy Commissioner Moshe Pinchi appeared to tell officers that an image of the young man bludgeoning a 52-year-old olive harvester in Turmus Ayya greatly disturbed him.
“A photo that kept me up at night. We will not be like our cruel enemies. This cruel criminal who beats elderly women, badly injuring them, will be arrested by us and be brought to justice,” he wrote in the chat.
An IDF spokesperson claimed army and police forces were dispatched to Turmus Ayya after receiving reports of the attacks to deal with the violence, but eyewitnesses at the scene claimed no forces were present during the time of the assault.
A West Bank District spokesperson said Sunday that police had opened a probe and that investigators went to the scene of the Turmus Ayya incident after the attack to take evidence, and had collected various videos documenting the violence. Police reportedly arrested one man who attacked the central West Bank town.
Pinchi is the former defense attaché to National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and was appointed to his current post by the far-right leader in September 2024. He is generally known to support the interests of Israel’s settler movement.
While in his former role, the officer reportedly instructed police to refrain from using force against far-right rioters who broke into an IDF army base in late July.
מפקד מחוז ש"י ניצב משה פינצ'י מנחה את המפקדים בקבוצה פנימית – לפעול כדי לעצור יהודי רעול פנים שתקף אישה פלסטינית מבוגרת ופצע אותה קשה בזמן מסיק זיתים.
פינצ'י כותב: "תמונה שהדירה שינה מעיניי. לא נהיה כמו האויבים האכזריים שלנו". מול ניסיונות פוליטיים להתערב במשטרה – לא מובן מאליו. pic.twitter.com/oEfFrT6GAk— Inbar Twizer ענבר טויזר (@inbartvizer) October 20, 2025
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