{"id":374156,"date":"2025-11-12T18:53:13","date_gmt":"2025-11-12T18:53:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/374156\/"},"modified":"2025-11-12T18:53:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-12T18:53:13","slug":"israels-president-says-settler-violence-against-palestinians-must-end","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/374156\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel’s president says settler violence against Palestinians must end"},"content":{"rendered":"

JERUSALEM (AP) \u2014 Israel\u2019s president and high-ranking military officials on Wednesday condemned attacks a day earlier by Jewish settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank<\/a>, calling for an end to a growing wave of settler violence in the occupied territory.<\/p>\n

President Isaac Herzog described the attacks as \u201cshocking and serious,\u201d adding a rare and powerful voice to what has been muted criticism by top Israeli officials of the settler violence. Herzog\u2019s position, while largely ceremonial, is meant to serve as a moral compass and unifying force for the country.<\/p>\n

Herzog said the violence committed by a \u201chandful\u201d of perpetrators \u201ccrosses a red line,\u201d adding in a social media post that \u201call state authorities must act decisively to eradicate the phenomenon.\u201d <\/p>\n

His remarks, and those of two high-ranking military officials, came after dozens of masked Israeli settlers attacked the Palestinian villages of Beit Lid and Deir Sharaf in the West Bank on Tuesday, setting fire to vehicles and other property before clashing with Israeli soldiers.<\/p>\n

Also on Wednesday, Israel reopened a crossing into the northern Gaza Strip that had been closed for two months. The move was welcomed by officials at the United Nations, who say Israel has been too slow in surging humanitarian aid to the territory since a ceasefire began last month. Aid has been delivered into Gaza since Oct. 10 through two crossings in the southern and central Gaza.<\/p>\n

Military leaders react to settler violence in the West Bank<\/p>\n

The Israeli army\u2019s chief of staff, Eyal Zamir, echoed Herzog\u2019s condemnations of the West Bank violence, saying the military \u201cwill not tolerate the phenomena of a minority of criminals who tarnish a law-abiding public.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the army is committed to stopping violent acts committed by settlers, which he described as contrary to Israeli values and that \u201cdivert the attention of our forces from fulfilling their mission.\u201d <\/p>\n

The chief of the military\u2019s Central Command, Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth, said responding to an \u201canarchist fringe\u201d requires the use of significant resources that could otherwise be focused on bolstering security and conducting counterterrorism operations.<\/p>\n

The army said the settlers who attacked the villages fled to a nearby industrial zone and attacked soldiers responding to the violence, damaging a military vehicle. Police said four Israelis were arrested, while the military said four Palestinians were wounded.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, police said three of the suspects were released and that one, a minor arrested on suspicion of arson and assault, will remain in custody for six more days, as ordered by a judge. Police said the actions of the three who were released are still under investigation \u201cwith the goal of bringing offenders to justice, regardless of their background.\u201d<\/p>\n

Settler violence has surged<\/p>\n

Tuesday\u2019s violence in the West Bank was the latest in a series of attacks<\/a> by young settlers that have surged since the war in Gaza<\/a> erupted two years ago. The attacks have intensified in recent weeks<\/a> as Palestinians harvest their olive trees in an annual ritual.<\/p>\n

The U.N. humanitarian office last week reported more Israeli settler attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank in October than in any other month since it began keeping track in 2006. There were over 260 attacks, the office said.<\/p>\n

Palestinians and human rights workers accuse the Israeli army and police of failing to halt attacks by settlers. Israel\u2019s government is dominated by far-right proponents of the settler movement including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who formulates settlement policy, and Cabinet minister Itamar Ben-Gvir<\/a>, who oversees the nation\u2019s police force.<\/p>\n

Muayyad Shaaban, who heads an office in the Palestinian Authority that is tracking the violence, said the settlers set fire to four dairy trucks, farmland, tin shacks and tents belonging to a Bedouin community.<\/p>\n

He said the attacks were part of a campaign to drive Palestinians from their land and accused Israel of giving the settlers protection and immunity. He called for sanctions against groups that \u201csponsor and support the colonial settlement terrorism project.\u201d<\/p>\n

Palestinians react angrily<\/p>\n

In Beit Lid, residents said they don\u2019t want their lives ruled by fear of settler violence.<\/p>\n

Mahmoud Edeis said the violence is undermining his family\u2019s right to live in safety.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo feel that my children are safe, that when I go to sleep I can say, \u2018Okay, there\u2019s nothing (to worry about),\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cBut at any moment something could happen \u2026 This can\u2019t go on. It can\u2019t be that we keep living our whole lives in a state of fear and danger.\u201d<\/p>\n

Amjad Amer Al-Juneidi, who works at a dairy factory that was attacked Tuesday, said the \u201cfully organized\u201d attack saw one person carrying gasoline-filled cans, another prying open the factory door with a crowbar and a third individual igniting the fuel.<\/p>\n

\u201cTheir entry into the company wasn\u2019t random. It was organized, and they had a fully organized tactic for how to carry out the burning,\u201d Al-Juneidi said.<\/p>\n

UN officials say more aid is needed in Gaza<\/p>\n

While U.N. officials welcomed the Israeli decision to reopen the Zikim crossing into northern Gaza, they also reiterated criticism of Israel for not doing more.<\/p>\n

Stephane Dujarric, the U.N. spokesperson, said Wednesday that humanitarian groups in Gaza are being hampered in their ability to distribute food once it arrives in the territory and having to \u201cstretch out the available stocks.\u201d <\/p>\n

The demand for baby formula, for example, far exceeds the current supply, UNICEF spokesperson Ricardo Pires told The Associated Press on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Pires said there are also concerns about whether there will be enough syringes to carry out a vaccination campaign that began this month and will continue into January. He said there could be supply problems starting next month if Israel doesn\u2019t allow greater shipments into Gaza.<\/p>\n

The Israeli agency in charge of humanitarian aid in Gaza, COGAT, said in a statement on Tuesday that \u201cIsrael is fully committed to its obligation to facilitate the entry of humanitarian aid trucks in accordance with the (ceasefire) agreement.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Associated Press report Farnoush Amiri at the United Nations, and Toqa Ezzidin in Cairo, contributed reporting.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Find more of AP\u2019s Israel-Hamas coverage at https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/israel-hamas-war<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JERUSALEM (AP) \u2014 Israel\u2019s president and high-ranking military officials on Wednesday condemned attacks a day earlier by Jewish…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":374157,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[97,180205,3881,26715,31400,4216,4528,4526,57,49970,99,3462,16657,2936,180203,3463,8132,50,9598,3674,80,365,180204,75908,8572,96,17262,103,107],"class_list":{"0":"post-374156","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-2024-2025-mideast-wars","9":"tag-amjad-amer-al-juneidi","10":"tag-ap-top-news","11":"tag-bezalel-smotrich","12":"tag-eyal-zamir","13":"tag-fires","14":"tag-foreign-aid","15":"tag-gaza-strip","16":"tag-general-news","17":"tag-isaac-herzog","18":"tag-israel","19":"tag-israel-government","20":"tag-itamar-ben-gvir","21":"tag-law-enforcement","22":"tag-mahmoud-edeis","23":"tag-mideast-wars","24":"tag-military-and-defense","25":"tag-news","26":"tag-palestinian-territories-government","27":"tag-political-violence","28":"tag-politics","29":"tag-religion","30":"tag-ricardo-pires","31":"tag-stephane-dujarric","32":"tag-violence","33":"tag-war-and-unrest","34":"tag-west-bank","35":"tag-world","36":"tag-world-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115538244771334426","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374156","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=374156"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374156\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/374157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=374156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=374156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=374156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}