Police arrest teen for slashing IDF officer’s tires

An Israeli teen was arrested by police overnight Sunday in the Old City of Jerusalem in connection with an attack on an IDF commander’s jeep in a hard-line settlement, officials said Monday.

The 16-year-old suspect is from the West Bank settlement of Yitzhar, where the attack took place, but is living in Jerusalem, according to police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld.

Rosenfeld said the investigation is ongoing.

On Sunday, the commander of the Samaria Brigade, Col. Yoav Yarom, had the tires of his vehicle slashed in Yitzhar, for the second time in three months.

The vandalism drew fierce condemnation from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israel Defense Forces, the local settlement authorities, and Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon, who referred to it as “an act of terror in every respect.”

Yarom was in the area to meet with settlement leaders regarding clashes between local Palestinians and residents of Yitzhar, knownas a hard-line settlement.

Similar attacks in the past have been blamed on Jewish nationalists who oppose anti-settler actions by the IDF in the territories.

“We will act with zero tolerance against those harming IDF soldiers and commanders,” Netanyahu said. “The assailants will be held accountable for the criminal act.”

The Samaria Regional Council and Yitzhar spokesman decried the incident, but the spokesman also tied it to a recent evacuation of illegal buildings in the settlement, a move condemned by residents.

“We cannot ignore the significant proximity to the criminal destruction of the Lazar family’s home, and the subsequent uproar,” he said. “Across from the commander’s airless tires stands a house, destroyed and ruined.”

The spokesman’s statement concluded with an appeal to the IDF to do everything it can to curb the backlash to last week’s events.

On January 10, Yarom’s jeep tires were tampered with in Yitzhar by unknown assailants. 

Netanyahu and several settler spokespeople condemned that attack as well.