Herzog calls settler riots 'unbridled cruelty,' supports security system

Israeli President Isaac Herzog, in a speech at a ceremony for Shin Bet honorees, referred to the riots committed by settlers throughout the West Bank since the attack in the settlement of Eli. "To our shock, we witnessed that there are Israelis who have found in these difficult and painful events a reason or a twisted rationale for brutal riots and unleashing attacks on innocent Palestinians. I condemn this violence in all its varieties. These acts are illegal and immoral. They are completely wrong, they are gnawing away at our foundations and moving the ground from under us all," he said. Herzog added that he "backs up and reinforces" the statements of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the heads of the security establishment against settler violence." (Itamar Eichner)