Israeli politicians condemn ‘pogrom’ of Palestinians in West Bank

Whilst bombs continue to fall on Gaza amidst Israel’s brutal offence into the coastal enclave, senior Israeli politicians unusually condemned a ‘pogrom’ after Jewish settlers attacked a Palestinian village in the occupied West Bank, resulting in one dead and many wounded, reported AFP and agencies on August 16th.

The Palestinian health ministry named 23-year-old Mahmoud Abdel Qader Sadda as the casualty who has been “critically injured in the chest by settlers’ bullets” in the village of Jit, west of Nablus.

WAFA, the Palestinian news agency, reported that “armed colonists” attacked the western part of the village by “setting several vehicles ablaze”, according to local sources.

The Israeli military stated that “dozens of Israeli civilians, some of them masked”, entered Jit, setting fire to buildings and cars whilst hurling “rocks and Molotov cocktails.”

The latest statement from the military announced that one Israeli was taken for questioning, though it did not confirm Sadda’s death.

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Israeli President Isaac Herzog wrote on X, “I strongly condemn this evening’s pogrom in Samaria,” using the name of the biblical province referring to the northern West Bank.

“This is an extreme minority that harms the law-abiding settler population and the settlement as a whole and the name and position of Israel in the world during a particularly sensitive and difficult period.”

“This is not our way and certainly not the way of Torah and Judaism. Law enforcement officials must act immediately against this serious phenomenon and bring the lawbreakers to justice,” he added.

Herzog’s employment of the term ‘pogrom’, of Yiddish and Russian roots, referring to Jewish settlers is significant as the term is associated with the attacks on Jewish people in Russia and eastern Europe during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

A statement released by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced that the leader was taking “seriously the riots that took place this evening,” adding that “those responsible for any criminal act will be caught and prosecuted,”

Netanyahu has governed Israel since December 2022 as head of the conservative Likud party. He also found support among far-right parties in advocating for more Israeli settlements in the West Bank or even outright annexation.

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Perhaps the most surprising condemnation of the attacks came from the architect of increased settler expansion in the West Bank, Bezalel Smotrich. The right-wing Finance Minister called the arsonists “criminals, who must be dealt with by the law enforcement authorities with the full force of the law”. Though in a post on X, Smotrich wrote that the attackers in Jit had “nothing to do with the settlement and the settlers.”

At least 633 Palestinians have been killed in attacks by settler or Israeli troops since the October 7th attacks, according to the Palestinian authorities.

Official Israeli figures show that at least 18 Israelis, including soldiers, have been killed in attacks involving Palestinians.

Israeli settlements in the West Bank – declared illegal under international law – have seen record-breaking expansion amidst the war in Gaza.

Excluding annexed East Jerusalem, around 3 million Palestinians live with around 700,000 Israeli settlers in the West Bank.

AFP and agencies