Police cut loose settler who shot stone thrower

Two Israeli settlers involved in the shooting of Palestinian stone throwers were released from the Binyamin police station on Wednesday afternoon.

Earlier in the day, a group of some 20 Palestinian youth hurled rocks at vehicles traveling on Route 60 near the Palestinian village of Silwad, north of Ramallah.

One Israeli driver stopped his car, chased the fleeing Palestinians, and shot one of them.

The Palestinian was arrested and taken to Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem in moderate condition with gunshot wounds to his back.

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Both the shooter and the passenger who was in the car with him were detained by police at the scene. Although they were freed, police said the investigation is ongoing.

The attorney for the passenger, far-right activist Itamar Ben Gvir, said the driver opened fire in self-defense.

“Instead of interrogating them, they should be receiving a certificate of appreciation for how they acted in this life-threatening situation, preventing further harm to other civilians who were on the road,” he said.

The attorney for the shooter, Adi Kedar of Ben Gvir’s Honenu legal aid organization, said that “the Israel Police is continuing its trend of selective enforcement against Jews only, while abandoning the lives of civilians and neglecting the security of citizens in Judea and Samaria.”

More then a dozen right-wing activists assembled outside of the Binyamin police station and demonstrated against the arrest of the two settlers, holding signs that read, “Jewish blood is not cheap,” “Let us live in peace,” and “Destroy Silwad.”

In a separate incident overnight, a woman, 35, was injured when Palestinians threw rocks at her car on Route 60 near the Al-Khader junction. Magen David Adom paramedics who arrived at the scene treated the woman and took her to Hadassah Hospital Ein Kerem in Jerusalem with light injuries to her face.

Stuart Winer contributed to this report.