Netanyahu blames ‘small number’ of West Bank rioters as mass settler attack draws wide condemnation

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday condemned the massive overnight attack and riot by Jewish extremists in the West Bank, calling for the perpetrators to be persecuted “to the fullest extent of the law,” while downplaying the attack as being perpetrated by a “small number” of people.

More than 100 Israeli settlers took part in the attack on the West Bank village of Jalud, near Nablus, preventing Israeli forces from enabling a displaced Palestinian family to return to their home. The army said the attackers were “blocking roads, setting tires on fire, and throwing stones at security forces,” injuring three Border Police officers and causing widespread property damage in Jalud. Three suspects had been arrested as of Tuesday afternoon.

Though security forces said the number of extremists involved in the attack exceeded 100, Netanyahu placed blame on a “small number of rioters,” which he said “does not represent the law-abiding settler community in Judea and Samaria,” referring to the West Bank.

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“They do it a grave injustice and interfere with our forces as they carry out their mission,” he said.

Netanyahu has regularly downplayed settler violence as a marginal concern, claiming that nearly all incidents are the work of a few hundred wayward youths, despite attacks taking place on a near-daily basis and occurring in hundreds of villages and towns across the West Bank.

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“I stand behind the IDF and Border Police personnel who are working to thwart terrorism and protect security,” he continued, “and I call on law enforcement authorities to prosecute the rioters to the fullest extent of the law.”

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar also condemned the attack on Jalud, calling it “grave and abhorrent.”

“Anyone who commits these criminal offenses and assaults Border Police fighters and IDF soldiers, and even harms them, are criminals who must be dealt with to the fullest extent of the law,” Sa’ar wrote on X. “They harm our values. They harm Jewish settlement. They harm Israel.”

Defense Minister Israel Katz joined in the chorus of condemnation against the attack, though he also downplayed it as being perpetrated by a “handful of rioters.”

“Precisely here, in the face of this important security activity, the severity of the actions of a handful of rioters… who attacked security forces and set fire to Palestinian homes and property stands out,” he said during a visit to the West Bank with Central Command chief Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth, accusing the rioters of undermining the soldiers’ mission.

Katz said the violent settlers are “hindering efforts to thwart Palestinian terrorism, diverting forces from their missions, and seriously harming security efforts, the settlement enterprise, and the State of Israel.”

“I strongly condemn these criminal acts. This handful of rioters does not represent the settler community, and decisive action must be taken against them, and those responsible must be brought to justice,” he added.

Also issuing condemnation of the Jalud attack was top settlement leader Yisrael Ganz, who called for Israel to crack down on the phenomenon with all its law enforcement capabilities. The statement marked a rare instance of criticism of the phenomenon coming from inside the movement.

“Incidents like what happened overnight can and must be prevented,” said Ganz, who heads the Binyamin Regional Council in the central West Bank, and also leads the Yesha settlement umbrella group.

“The state has powers and tools to stop this phenomenon, and it needs to use them,” he said, urging the prosecution of those responsible, even as he appeared to point a finger at law enforcement for failing to do so.

“The law must be enforced in [the West Bank] exactly as it is enforced in Tel Aviv or Kfar Saba,” he said.

Tubasi family home had been taken over by settlers since July

The attack happened as the IDF attempted to return the Tubasi family to their home, after they were forced to leave in July following repeated harassment and violence by settlers. In September, the High Court of Justice ordered that their safe return be ensured, in a scathing decision that castigated authorities for failing to crack down on the attacks.

Mahmoud Tubasi, the homeowner, said his house has been occupied by settlers since July. He told The Times of Israel on Tuesday that around midnight, the Civil Administration called the family and told them they would be able to return to their home.

“My wife, my son and I went to the house in the car, accompanied by an army vehicle in front of us and another behind us,” he told AFP.

Settlers attacked the group upon their arrival at the house and were pushed back by soldiers with pepper spray, he added.

“We were not physically injured, but we suffered some choking from the pepper spray,” Tubasi said.

According to Tubasi, the Palestinians escaped without injury because IDF troops rescued them during the incident and moved them into a military vehicle.

In a separate attack Tuesday, dozens of settlers from hilltop outposts raided the Palestinian village of al-Mughayyir, northeast of Ramallah, residents told AFP.

An AFP journalist saw at least five burnt-out cars as a result.

Al-Mughayyir is the scene of frequent attacks due to its isolated location and the presence of several settlement outposts around it.

In another separate incident in the town of Beitunia near Ramallah, dozens of settlers came to hold a prayer for the Jewish holiday of Sukkot using loudspeakers, Mayor Ribhi Dawla told AFP.

“This gathering is a dangerous precedent,” he said. “There are ambitions for settlements in the area, they placed a caravan in the western part of the town and installed an iron gate.”

Settler violence in the West Bank has risen sharply since the Hamas-led onslaught of October 7, 2023, that sparked the war in Gaza.

The attacks occur daily but perpetrators are rarely caught or prosecuted. Critics accuse the government of condoning and even encouraging the violence, which has led to the displacement of dozens of Palestinian families.

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