Settler leaders fume at IDF head after he says he discussed settler rioting with them

Settler leaders fumed Friday after the Israel Defense Forces said military chief Herzi Halevi discussed settlers violence with them during a meeting the day before.

The issue was listed near the end of a statement that noted several other matters the IDF said Halevi discussed with the settler mayors at the Thursday meeting. He also raised “statements against commanders,” referring to criticism by right-wing activists of senior officers in the West Bank.

Binyamin Regional Council chair Yisrael Gantz slammed the readout as “an offensive message that does injustice to the settlement movement and to reality.”

Gantz charged that the IDF “created a distorted image and turned the discourse in the media and in the world into the aggression of ‘Jewish terrorism’ toward Arabs when the opposite is the truth. We are the ones who are counting the dead and wounded from the murderous Arab terror.”

A second settler leader, speaking anonymously, told the Ynet news site that “the partnership between the IDF and the settlement movement was and remains close, so it is not clear why the chief of staff chose to present a false image to the media.”

The source acknowledged that settler violence was discussed during the meeting, but insisted that it was a marginal topic relative to Palestinian terror.

The readout said the sides discussed “the latest events” in the West Bank, including Palestinian shooting attacks, this week’s major operation in Jenin, “incidents of nationalist crime” by Israelis, “statements against commanders and other issues.”

It added that Halevi “emphasized that the IDF is responsible for security and upholding law and order in the region and expects a partnership (with the settler leaders) in upholding the law in order to focus on fighting terrorism with determination.”

The Kan public broadcaster reported Friday that during the meeting, one of the settler mayors seemed to express understanding for settler attacks on Palestinians, arguing that protesters against the government’s judicial overhaul lit a bonfire in the middle of Tel Aviv’s Ayalon Highway and “nothing happened.”

“People are taking the law in their own hands out of frustration,” the unnamed mayor was quoted as telling Halevi.

Halevi responded that he is against the actions of the protesters, but rejected the equivalency that the settler mayor tried to draw between a demonstrator lighting a fire on the highway and a settler hurling a Molotov cocktail into a Palestinian home with children inside, as only the latter directly put lives at risk.

Following various media reports, the IDF issued a subsequent statement stressing the meeting was held in a respectful atmosphere and focused primarily on Palestinian terror.

Recent weeks have seen a major uptick in West Bank violence, including a shooting attack on Thursday that left an IDF soldier dead outside the Kedumim settlement.

At the beginning of the week, the IDF launched a widespread counterterror operation targeting the Jenin refugee camp. Twelve Palestinian gunmen were killed and over 80 were injured, including civilians. An IDF soldier was shot dead as the army withdrew from the camp.

In the wake of the deadly Palestinian terror attack on June 20, in which four Israelis were gunned down by Hamas-affiliated terrorists, hundreds of settlers rampaged in Palestinian towns and villages for five days, setting fire to homes and cars, and even opening fire in some cases. One Palestinian was killed in unclear circumstances.

The riots have been condemned by politicians, including some from the right-wing coalition, but there has been little clear-cut condemnation from settlement leaders or religious figures.

While the government has pledged to hold those behind the settler rampages accountable, only four Israelis remain under administrative detention for their involvement. Hundreds were filmed taking part in the attacks.