Palestinians attack pro-settlement group including right-wing politician, her party says

Palestinians attacked a pro-settlement tour group that included Fleur Hassan-Nahoum, a candidate for the right-wing People of Israel party, in the central West Bank village of Turmus Ayya on Monday, the party said, accusing the government of failing to crack down on terrorism.

Footage from inside the group’s car showed Hassan-Nahoum speaking in the front seat as another person tells everyone in the vehicle to duck before a stone crashes into the window behind the candidate, shattering it.

“All we were doing was going around this village, just looking at the houses,” Hassan-Nahoum, who is running for the Knesset in next week’s election, said in a separate video shortly after the incident, pointing at the stone as she stood outside the damaged car.

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Promoted: JPPI, Rabbi Sharon Brous

Police said officers accompanied by IDF soldiers arrived on the scene upon receiving a report of stone-throwing targeting “a group making its way in the area adjacent to Turmus Ayya.”

The police statement noted the group included a “public figure,” but did not name Hassan-Nahoum. It said the force has launched an investigation into the incident.

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Separately, the IDF said commandos from its Duvdevan unit on Sunday captured two Palestinian terror suspects in Kafr Aqab, north of Jerusalem in the West Bank, who “were advancing an imminent terror attack and operating to establish terrorist infrastructure.” The suspects were taken in for questioning by the Shin Bet, the army said.

The tour Hassan-Nahoum was on was led by Regavim, a pro-settler organization that the European Union sanctioned in May among other “extremist and violent” settler groups.

Regavim said the tour was for “a delegation of pro-Israel influencers from the US and South America” and was devoted to “hasbara,” a Hebrew term referring to pro-Israel public diplomacy. The British-born Hassan-Nahoum, a former deputy mayor of Jerusalem, is a hasbara activist.

People of Israel, led by former IDF general Ofer Winter, said “several terrorists” surrounded Hassan-Nahoum’s car and hurled stones and other objects at it, “lightly injuring” people inside, as the tour group was leaving the village.

The statement quoted Hassan-Nahoum, who is No. 5 on People of Israel’s slate for the election, as saying, “Palestinian terrorism will not deter us. I will continue fighting for Israel’s reputation around the world.”

Winter accused the government of failing to ensure the safety of Israeli citizens.

“How much longer will we hear about stone-throwing, terrorist attacks, shootings… while instead of defeating the enemy we carry out another minor operation, make another arrest, issue another promise?” Winter said. “A stone can kill, and it’s time to stop treating terrorism as an unavoidable fact of life.”

He also referenced Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s attacks on his party, and railed against Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi, a member of Netanyahu’s Likud party, who “today of all days” said in an interview with pro-government Channel 14 that Winter is “on the side of Palestine.”

“I’ve dedicated my life to fighting Israel’s enemies. Do you really want to lecture me about who’s on which side?” Winter said. “Instead of fighting me, instead of fighting us, fight Israel’s enemies. Instead of smearing soldiers, restore security to the citizens.”

Karhi, in his comments, cited a recently resurfaced five-year-old clip from an interview People of Israel candidate Yoseph Haddad gave to Saudi network Al Arabiya, in which he endorsed a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Haddad, an Arab-Israeli pro-Israel activist, has disavowed that position.

People of Israel, which debuted in August, has railed against the government’s effort to codify the Haredi exemption from military service, but has also expressed support for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu staying in office.

Polls initially gave People of Israel about six of the Knesset’s 120 seats, sinking Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s Religious Zionism beneath the electoral threshold. But following Likud’s attacks on People of Israel, and a merger between Religious Zionism and a smaller party, more recent polls show Winter’s faction falling short of the electoral threshold.

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