Otzma Yehudit MK to be questioned on suspicion of assaulting cop in West Bank riot

MK Yitzhak Kroizer, a member of National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s far-right Otzma Yehudit party, was set to be questioned under caution on Monday, the Israel Police said, on suspicion of assaulting an officer during a riot in the West Bank on October 1 in an attempt to allow a suspect involved in violence against Palestinians to escape arrest.

The i24 news outlet first reported Tuesday morning that Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara and State Attorney Amit Aisman had approved the investigation, meaning Kroizer will not be shielded by the parliamentary immunity that would otherwise be afforded to him.

Police also announced that the investigation into the October 1 riot in Mitzpe Yeriho had been transferred from the West Bank police division to the Lahav 433 major crimes unit, which typically investigates lawmakers accused of criminal behavior.

Three suspects who were interrogated in connection with the riot were released to house arrest on Sunday night, the police said.

The riot in Mitzpe Yeriho erupted after police chased a car being driven by three masked settlers suspected of attacking a neighboring Palestinian village, the Haaretz daily reported. The chase reportedly led police into the settlement during a memorial event at a local synagogue for Aviad Nayman, the brother of Otzma Yehudit director-general Itiel Nayman.

Police managed to block the suspects’ car near the synagogue, but two of them fled, Haaretz said. The third suspect was reportedly detained and put in the police vehicle.

Dozens of rioters then surrounded the police car and slashed its tires, the report said. They were allegedly led by Nayman, who threatened not to let the officers in the car leave until they released the suspect, according to senior police sources cited by the newspaper.

The officers said they stood outside the police car to stop the suspect from escaping, and were then shoved by rioters who opened the car door and let him out, the report said.

Riot police reportedly arrived at the scene and started clashing with the settlers. One officer reportedly suffered a broken nose.

Evidence and testimony from the clash indicate that Kroizer hit an officer and Nayman grabbed an officer by the shirt and pulled him to the ground, according to police sources cited in the report.

Following the clash, officers who attempted to drive the vehicle with the slashed tires were blocked again for some 30 minutes by dozens of settlers, some of whom banged on the car windows.

Kroizer, who claims he was himself assaulted by police during the riot, charged on X that the approval of the investigation against him was “a blatantly political decision a moment before the election,” and that the attorney general “is trying to turn the victim into a suspect.”

Ben Gvir, who visited the scene of the riot in its aftermath and reportedly expressed support for the rioters, accused Baharav Miara of “selective enforcement.”

He noted that she had declined to approve interrogations of opposition MKs Naama Lazimi and Gilad Kariv over respective allegations of setting a fire on the Ayalon Highway during an anti-government protest and leaking classified material from the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.

He called for “immediate clarification” of her decision to investigate Kroizer.

Settler violence in the West Bank has risen sharply since the Hamas-led onslaught of October 7, 2023, that sparked the war in Gaza, taking place on a near-daily basis and occurring in hundreds of villages and towns across the West Bank.

Critics accuse the government of condoning and even encouraging the violence, which has led to the displacement of dozens of Palestinian families.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other ministers have regularly downplayed the violence as a marginal concern, claiming that nearly all incidents are the work of a few hundred wayward youths.