Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu strongly condemned violence by Israeli extremists in the West Bank villages of Qusra and Jalud on Saturday, calling those responsible a “handful of rioters” who had broken the law, obstructed IDF troops and damaged Israel’s international standing.
The condemnation came after the IDF said “dozens of rioters” entered Qusra, a Palestinian town in the northern West Bank, and threw stones at Palestinians and others in the area.
Israeli extremists in Jalud
“I strongly condemn the criminal acts of violence committed in the villages of Qusra and Jalud by a handful of rioters who are breaking the law, causing enormous harm to the law-abiding settler community, interfering with the IDF in carrying out its missions and damaging Israel’s standing in the world,” Netanyahu said after Shabbat ended Saturday evening.
Netanyahu said for the first time that the Shin Bet domestic security agency was involved in investigating the violence.
“Security forces acted quickly, confiscated three vehicles and brought the incident to an end within a short time,” he said. “The IDF, Shin Bet and police are conducting an intensive investigation on the ground, and I expect law enforcement authorities to arrest the rioters and bring them to justice as soon as possible.”
עימותים בקוסרה
No arrests had been reported as of Saturday evening.
The IDF said the rioters threw stones at Palestinians and other civilians. When troops arrived, they found dozens of rioters barricaded inside a Palestinian home while Palestinian residents were also inside, according to the military.
Foreign journalists were also attacked during the unrest, with stones thrown at them and the window of their vehicle smashed. The rioters later continued to nearby Jalud, where masked people were filmed riding in pickup trucks.
Foreign journalists also attacked during the unrest, with stones thrown at them and the window of their vehicle smashed
Masked rioters seen riding in pickup trucks toward Jalud
The military and Border Police said they were aware of reports of Palestinians injured in the violence, including a Palestinian woman whose condition was described as not requiring urgent treatment. She was evacuated by the Palestinian Red Crescent for medical care.
Security forces said they initially worked to remove the rioters from the house and separate the groups “in order to protect the occupants of the home.”
The military said vehicles belonging to the Israeli rioters and suspected of having been used to reach the villages were confiscated.
Palestinian residents offered their own accounts of the confrontation, including allegations about the conduct of Israeli troops that could not be independently verified.
Luay Bayruti, the owner of the home at the center of the incident
(Photo: Ammar Awad/Reuters)
Luay Bayruti, the owner of the home at the center of the incident, told Reuters that his family had been trapped inside as the building was surrounded and stones were thrown at it. He said the group outside grew from about six people to more than 70 before Israeli forces arrived.
Saddam Odaay, another one of those trapped, similarly told Reuters that dozens of people surrounded the house and threw stones toward those inside.
Palestinians said six residents of the village were detained, though the IDF and Border Police did not report any arrests.
President Isaac Herzog also issued a sharp condemnation Saturday evening.
IDF forces in Qusra
(Photo: Jaafar Ashtiyeh/AFP)
“I strongly condemn the grave acts of violence in Qusra,” Herzog said. “This is a direct and flagrant defiance of the laws and values of the State of Israel.”
Herzog called the violence “another incident in a disturbing sequence of events that casts a stain on Israel’s image and demands firm and decisive action.”
“I stand with the IDF, which is doing everything in its power to protect the citizens of the State of Israel,” he said. “The government, security agencies, judicial authorities, and law-enforcement bodies must act now, using every available means and in full coordination, to root out this unacceptable phenomenon and bring the perpetrators to justice.”
Yashar party leader Gadi Eisenkot blamed the government for what he described as growing lawlessness by a violent minority in the West Bank.
Clashes between settlers and Palestinians in Qusra
“The growing anarchy of a violent minority and the loss of control over them in Judea and Samaria are a security, leadership, diplomatic and moral disgrace that does not represent the overwhelming majority of Israeli citizens and distracts the IDF from its primary mission,” Eisenkot said, using the biblical name for the West Bank commonly used in Israel.
He accused Netanyahu and his coalition partners of pursuing policies that “knowingly abandon the national interest of the State of Israel” because of political weakness.
The violence in Qusra comes weeks after an unauthorized Israeli outpost was established near Palestinian homes in the area as an extension of the Tel Talpiot outpost, prompting international criticism and intervention by the White House.
IDF soldiers were filmed praying alongside settlers during the earlier confrontation, which developed into a standoff lasting several days. The IDF later attempted to evacuate the outpost and said a makeshift structure erected there had been removed, though furniture remained and the Israelis at the site did not initially leave.
IDF forces in Qusra
(Photo: Jaafar Ashtiyeh/AFP)
The military subsequently deployed another battalion to the area to deal with the unrest. U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee described those responsible for the violence at the time as “Israeli terrorists.”
Security forces returned the following day in another attempt to evacuate the unauthorized outpost.