Settler leaders welcome IDF operation in Jenin: ‘Changing the paradigm’

Settler leaders welcome the IDF’s operation in Jenin, after a recent spate of terror attacks in the West Bank that gave rise to demands by settlement politicians for a proactive military response.

Ariel Elmaliach, the chair of the Eli settlement in the northern West Bank outside of which Palestinian terrorists shot four Israelis to death last month, says the Jenin operation will “restore national pride” and will “change the paradigm” so that Israel initiates confrontation with terror groups instead of reacting to them.

“The terrorists need to be afraid to leave their holes, and in parallel we need to eradicate the terrorist nests around the northern Samaria district,” continues Elmaliach, who called for a military operation in Palestinian cities and villages after the Eli attack.

Mayor of the Efrat settlement Oded Revivi says the Jenin operation is the moment to “internalize” the message of “no to separation and walls, but rather creating neighborliness and shared society,” and argues that Israeli territorial withdrawals such as from Palestinian population centers in the West Bank through the Oslo Accords and from Gaza in 2005 have failed.

“The Efrat Municipal Council’s relations with its neighboring villages is the model that should be adopted to internalize that the Arabs are here to stay and the settlements are here to say,” says Revivi.

Head of the Beit El Regional Council Shai Alon says he “welcomes the decision to put an end to terrorism” and that “all the residents of Judea and Samaria stand behind the security forces and support their operation to restore quiet to the entire region.”