Settler leader claims ‘provocateurs and terrorists’ causing violence in West Bank, violent Israelis ‘playing into their hands’

Against the background of severe violence by settler extremists in recent days, head of the Yesha Council settlements umbrella group Israel Ganz alleges that it is Palestinian rights activists who are sowing violence in the West Bank.

“In the last two days, groups of provocateurs and terrorists are sowing chaos using the olive harvest as an excuse,” says Ganz.

Ganz, who also heads the Benjamin Regional Council settlement authority, claims that such people go to “friction points” in order to “stir up the region and create confrontations.”

“In many situations they are the actual aggressors, go wild, and harm Israelis,” alleges Ganz, and says their activities must be stopped.

Ganz is referring to Israeli and foreign organizations and activists who carry out so-called protective presence activities in which they accompany Palestinian agricultural workers onto their land to assist them when confronted by Israeli security forces and document violence by settler extremists.

There is very little documentation of such activists engaging in violent acts, however, despite Ganz’s claims.

Ganz issued qualified criticism of extremist violence, saying that “Israelis using violence play into their hands and harm people, the settlements, and the state.”

He called on the police to “take responsibility” and impose order.

“A police force which knows how to deal with organized crime must stop stone throwers, and organizers of disturbances of the public order which are known ahead of time, Israelis, Arabs, and foreigners alike, instead of sufficing with condemnation and a claim that an investigation has been opened after the incident has ended,” says Ganz.