While he characterized stone throwing by Palestinians as terror, he didn\u2019t go as far as to make that characterization when referring to Jewish stone-throwers and argued that he did not support soldiers opening fire at them.<\/p>\n
\t Bluth \u2014 who has faced criticism for allowing settler violence to fester unchecked for months before only recently speaking out<\/a> against it \u2014 recalled how Border Police last year shot at stone throwers because their faces were covered and the cops didn\u2019t realize they were settlers.<\/p>\n Even though they had been targeted by settlers, the Israeli forces faced criticism from certain ultranationalist circles for having used live fire. It was one of two such incidents over the past year. \u201cLuckily, the Jews were not killed,\u201d Haaretz quoted Bluth as having said.<\/p>\n \u201cAny such incident [in which soldiers shoot at Israeli stone-throwers] has very severe consequences from a sociological perspective,\u201d Bluth said. \u201cYes, there is discrimination to some extent.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not sure that opening fire on every Israeli stone-thrower\u2026 would help. I think it would do the exact opposite,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Bluth also pointed to disparities in Israel\u2019s employment of administrative detention, but in this case appeared to take issue with the discrepancy between its use against Jews and Palestinians.<\/p>\n The legal mechanism allows Israeli authorities to indefinitely keep a suspect in custody without charge, based on covert intelligence information.<\/p>\n \t The practice has been deemed so controversial over due process concerns that Defense Minister Israel Katz barred its use against Jewish suspects. Meanwhile, it is still used against over 4,000 Palestinians as well as a small number of Arab Israelis.<\/p>\n Taking issue with Katz\u2019s decision \u2014as settler attacks have only intensified since \u2014 Bluth said curbing the phenomenon should start with re-employing administrative detentions against Jewish extremists before there is any talk of changing the IDF\u2019s rules of engagement. \u201d I am winning with what I have,\u201d he claimed.<\/p>\n Bluth credited his hardline policies for curbing Palestinian terror in the West Bank. \u201cI\u2019m constantly turning [Palestinian] villages into conflict zones.\u201d<\/p>\n The IDF has been conducting lengthy counter-terror operations in West Bank refugee camps, flattening hundreds of buildings deemed as terror infrastructure, while displacing tens of thousands in the process.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve killed 1,500 terrorists in three years. So how come there is no intifada?\u2026 Because 96 percent of the 1,500 killed were involved in terrorism, only 4 percent were not,\u201d he claimed. Bluth\u2019s breakdown of civilians to combatants could not be immediately independently verified.<\/p>\n Last week, though, Bluth was quoted as having expressed bewilderment over the fact that Palestinians have not launched an uprising amid ongoing \u201cJewish terrorism.\u201d<\/p>\n \t Haaretz quoted Bluth as having recently said that \u201cit\u2019s quite a miracle the Palestinian public is still indifferent\u2026 but it won\u2019t remain indifferent forever.\u201d<\/p>\n Returning to the issue of Palestinians trying to illegally cross through the West Bank security barrier, Bluth in the Sunday report said 50,000 to 70,000 of them have managed to continue working inside Israel since Hamas\u2019s October 7, 2023, terror onslaught.<\/p>\n In response to the attack, Jerusalem decided to revoke all entry permits for the over 100,000 Palestinians who had been working legally inside Israel. Illegal infiltrations by Palestinian day laborers before October 7 were at roughly 40,000.<\/p>\n The revoked entry permits, along with Israeli measures against the Palestinian banking sector and the withholding of several billion dollars in Palestinian tax revenues, have plummeted the West Bank economy to unprecedentedly low levels.<\/p>\n IDF revokes permission for Palestinian farmers to plow their fields after settler disruption<\/p>\n Another sector of the Palestinian economy under significant duress is the agricultural industry.<\/p>\n Violent settlers are reported to harass Palestinian farmers on a near-daily basis, preventing them from reaching their lands.<\/p>\n On Monday, a group of about 20 Palestinians from the village of Turmus Ayya, near Ramallah, were prevented from plowing land by the IDF after their activities were disrupted by settlers, even though they had coordinated the work with Israeli authorities.<\/p>\n The group arrived in the morning to plow land adjacent to the village, but extremist settlers arrived at the scene and were documented attempting to chase the Palestinians\u2019 tractors. Calls had circulated online on Sunday urging settlers to come to the site and disrupt the plowing.<\/p>\n The land is privately owned by village residents, but because it is in Area C and located near the settlements of Shvut Rachel and Shilo, the work had been coordinated in advance with Israel\u2019s Civil Administration. In Area C of the West Bank, both security and civilian authority lie with Israel.<\/p>\n \t But following the settler disruptions, the IDF decided to revoke the authorization it had granted to the Palestinian farmers and instead declared the area a closed military zone. The IDF did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n Monday also saw the government announce NIS 1.075 billion ($365 million) in funding for the years 2026-2028 to pave roads for recently approved settlements in the West Bank.<\/p>\n An analysis by the Peace Now settlement watchdog noted that the current government is already investing NIS 7 billion in settlement road construction, representing about 30% of Israel\u2019s intercity road budget, despite serving only about 3% of Israel\u2019s population.<\/p>\n Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who is also a minister in the department of defense, called this part of a \u201crevolution\u201d the government is leading in the West Bank by approving and supporting dozens of new settlements.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t You clearly find our careful reporting of the Iran war valuable, at a time when facts are often distorted and news coverage often lacks context.<\/p>\n Your support is essential to continue our work. We want to continue delivering the professional journalism you value, even as the demands on our newsroom have grown dramatically during this ongoing conflict.<\/p>\n So today, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. For as little as $6 a month you’ll become our partners while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing\u00a0exclusive content\u00a0available only to Times of Israel Community members.<\/p>\n Thank you, \t\t\t
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/F260220CG117-640x400.jpg\")
<\/a>
\n\t\tIDF Central Command chief Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth watches as Palestinians pass through the Qalandia checkpoint on their way to attend Ramadan prayers at Jerusalem\u2019s Al-Aqsa Mosque, February 20, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg\/Flash90)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/AFP__20251209__87JB7G2__v2__HighRes__TopshotPalestinianIsraelConflict-640x400.jpg\")
<\/a>
\n\t\tYoung Palestinians throw stones at an Israel Defense Forces vehicle during a military raid in the Al-Amari refugee camp near the city of Ramallah in the West Bank on December 9, 2025. (Zain JAAFAR \/ AFP)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/F260112CG218-640x400.jpg\")
<\/a>
\n\t\tPalestinians use a rope to climb over the separation barrier from the al-Ram village into East Jerusalem, January 12, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg\/Flash90)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/AFP__20251020__79DN7CE__v1__HighRes__PalestinianIsraelConflictAgricultureHarvest-640x400.jpg\")
<\/a>
\n\t\tPalestinians harvest olives in the West Bank village of Turmus Ayya, on the outskirts of Ramallah, October 20, 2025. (Hazem BADER \/ AFP)<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\tYou appreciate our wartime journalism\t\t\t<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/DH-new-headshot-circular-200x200.png\" "\\"\\"\/")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\tJoin Our Community\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n