Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich leads a faction meeting at the Knesset, Jerusalem, January 29, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich says a recent IDF drill simulating Israeli settlers kidnapping a Palestinian child was “reminiscent of blood libels.”
“There has never been a case of a settler abducting an Arab child,” Smotrich tells Army Radio.
“It’s a bit reminiscent of the blood libels that alleged that Christian children were taken and slaughtered to make matza,” the far-right minister says. “There has never been a case of abduction like that.”
“We don’t need to dress troops with a vest saying that they are the enemy, and calling them settlers,” he says. “There is unfortunately confusion, and I see it in all sorts of places.”
Soldiers wearing “enemy forces” vests are seen in a video from an IDF exercise that included a simulation of Israeli settlers kidnapping Palestinians. (Screenshot/X; used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
Far-right ministers have slammed the Israeli military for carrying out the drill simulating settlers abducting a Palestinian in response to a terror attack.
Footage from the drill showed that several soldiers were wearing vests marking them as the “enemy force,” a common practice in military exercises.
The IDF apologized for marking the soldiers pretending to be settlers in the drill as the opposing force.
There has been substantial documentation and reporting on rising settler violence — at times deadly — in recent months. The vast majority of cases go unprosecuted, according to rights groups.
Emanuel Fabian contributed to this report.
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