Benjamin Netanyahu and his loyalists released a brief cry of victory on June 22 morning as the judges at Jerusalem’s District Court told the prosecution that it “would be difficult” to prove allegations of bribery against the Prime Minister in one of the central cases currently deliberated, commonly known as Case 4000. This was seen by Mr. Netanyahu’s team as proof that charges were trumped up.
EDITORIAL | Spiralling violence: On the West Bank
But the next day, Israeli Attorney General and Chief Prosecutor, Gali Baharav-Myara, stated that prosecution will continue, nevertheless. Adv. Boaz Ben-Tzur, head of Mr. Netanyahu’s legal team, called the decision “haphazard and outrageous”.
Military escalation
But the legal challenges Mr. Netanyahu is dealing with have been dwarfed by the mounting security and political challenges his administration is facing. The incidents of the last week left behind a trail of attacks and armed clashed of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) with Palestinian gunmen, and later with radical settler groups, which included military escalation not witnessed since the second Intifada, 20 years ago.
The crisis broke out on early Monday morning (June 19), when IDF special forces entered Burkin and the Jenin Refugee Camp to arrest two affiliates of Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), who had allegedly been involved in planning recent shooting attacks on Israelis. On their way out of the camp, Palestinians detonated an IED which incapacitated several of the armored personnel carriers, wounding seven soldiers. The IDF top brass views the incident as particularly worrisome, as it shows footprints of Iranian military training and tactics used by their proxies such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza.
As the convoy called in for rescue, a fierce gunbattle developed, which raged on for 11 hours. The IDF scrambled two Apache attack helicopters to secure the evacuation, in what was the first time the Israeli Air Force fought in the territories since the second Intifada of 2000-2005.
File picture of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu | Photo Credit: via Reuters
At the end of the battle, over 30 Palestinians were wounded and seven dead, including a 15-year-old boy, Ahmed Sakr, and 15-year-old girl, Sedil Naghaghiya.
The UN Relief and Work Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) issued a statement saying that it “deplores the death by live ammunition of two Palestinian refugee children”. Israeli leadership rejected the accusations, saying as all the dead, including the young boy, were identified by Hamas and the PIJ as their own. Even Naghaghiya’s body was wrapped in PIJ flag for her funeral procession.
Attack in Eli
But violence didn’t end there. On Tuesday afternoon (June 20), two Hamas gunmen entered a gas station adjacent to the settlement of Eli and opened fire on diners at the Hummus Eliyahu restaurant, killing four Israelis: Nahman Mordoff (17), Elisha Anteman (18), Harel Masood (21), and 63-year-old Ofer Fayerman, and injuring three others.
The gunmen, identified as Muhanad Shehada and Khaled Sabah, from the village of Urif, members of Hamas’ Al-Qassam Brigades, were killed — one on the spot, by an armed settler, and the other by IDF forces, after a chase.
Settler violence
This led to a violent raid of Palestinian villages by radical settler youth, colloquially known as “Hilltop Youth”, primarily from the settlement of Yitzhar. They entered the villages of Turmus Ayya, Huwara and Luban al-Sharkiya, setting fire to fields, about 50 cars, and 30 houses. As the IDF moved in to restore law and order, clashes ensued with Palestinians, reportedly resulting in the death of a 27-year-old man in Turmus Ayya.
The next night, an IDF drone shot missiles at a car from which armed militants had opened fire at the Jalma border crossing, killing two militants from the PIJ and one from the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO). IDF spokesman said they had been responsible for multiple shooting attacks.
Adding another layer to Mr. Netanyahu’s mound of worries, the focus of international media and governments was on the attacks on Palestinian property by the Hilltop Youth, not on the Palestinian violence. This is a new phenomenon that many accredit to the tacit approval of radicals in Mr. Netanyahu’s government, with fingers being pointed at Finance Minister, Betzazel Smotrich, who also holds responsibilities in the Ministry of Defense, and at Internal Security Minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, who possesses a long record of radical activism from before he entered Parliament.
On Friday, a delegation of 18 EU ambassadors came to Turmus Ayya to express their solidarity. None of them visited the settlement of Eli, which they view as illegal. U.S. State Department Spokesman, Vedant Patel, also released a harsh condemnation, demanding Israel prosecute the rioters and compensate for damages to property.
On Sunday, Kan Reshet Bet public radio reported that U.S. administration officials announced they would reverse Trump era policy and restrict all scientific and technological collaborations over the 1967 Green Line, in the territories claimed by Israel. While this was a calculated blow aimed at Mr. Netanyahu’s government, it also painted roughly half a million Israeli settlers as violent extremists.
Mutual prosperity
This reporter met Rabbi Eliezer Melamed, the rabbi of the Har Bracha settlement, a settler leader, leading author of religious literature, and noted critic of settler violence. His settlement is across the valley from Yitzhar, where the most avid supporters of revenge attacks live.
He made it unequivocally clear that he opposes any infringement on Palestinian human rights, and believes in coexistence and mutual prosperity, despite his Palestinian neighbors’ radical Islamic beliefs. When asked about Yitzhar, he opposed their actions, but his rhetoric remained reserved.
But another senior figure in Har Bracha was furious and wanted to set the score straight on what settlers think of the Hilltop Youth. “They are enemies of the settlers. I risk my life daily riding on the highway via Huwara. I rode through there one hour before the Feb. 23 murder of Hillel and Yagel Yaniv, and again the following day.”
“These young brats think they are great heroes going on their wanton vandalism. The only thing they accomplish is having the whole world portray us not as victims of terror, but as savages. They are an insult to everything we stand for: our religion, our personal sacrifices, and our prayers for peaceful coexistence despite everything we endure,” said the person.
Yeshaya Rosenman is the head of the South Asia Project at Sharaka NGO, Tel Aviv
