Israel’s Defense Minister Calls Settlers’ Attacks on Palestinians ‘Outright Terror’

[Purveyor]

By ROBERT MACKEY

Israel’s defense minister, Moshe Yaalon, denounced a campaign of attacks on Palestinian civilians and property by extremist Israeli settlers as “outright terror” on Wednesday, after two cars were set on fire with Molotov cocktails and Hebrew graffiti — reading “price tag” and “Esh Kodesh revenge” — was sprayed on the walls of a West Bank village.

The vandalism took place in early morning near the village of Qusra, in apparent retaliation for an incident there the day before, in which a group of young settlers was captured and beaten by Palestinians who caught them trespassing. Village elders, and a Palestinian field worker for the Jewish group Rabbis for Human Rights, then stepped in to protect the settlers and arranged for them to be escorted away by Israeli soldiers.

Video posted online by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz showed West Bank settlers whose attack on Palestinian civilians was reportedly pre-empted on Tuesday.
The Tel Aviv daily Israel Hayom reported that military sources “said the settlers, all known right-wing activists, entered the village with the clear intent of carrying out a ‘price tag’ attack.” In recent years, extremists among the settler community have waged a campaign of revenge attacks whenever concessions were made by Israel to Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, and the Hebrew words for “price tag” are frequently spray-painted as a calling card.

As my colleague Isabel Kershner explained, the Israeli military said that the confrontation on Tuesday began after Israeli security forces removed an illegal structure in Esh Kodesh, an unauthorized Israeli settlement outpost in the northern West Bank.

Images of the battered young settlers being turned over to Israeli soldiers at a Qusra construction site used as a makeshift detention center by Palestinians amounted to “an unprecedented humiliation” for the far-right activists, the Israeli television journalist Roy Sharon observed Tuesday night.

more...

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/01/08/israels-defense-minister-calls-settlers-attacks-on-palestinians-outright-terror/?_r=0

[azurnoir]

1. Ouch because we were told that the Palestinians were going to lynch

a group of Israeli youths who according to their story had accidentally gotten lost while out on a nature hike and found themselves in a Palestinian village - really now who's more believable here?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/113456110#post1

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

2. Gov Christie might have a slight lead on believability...

No, just joking. Both sets seem to be miserable liars.

[oberliner]

4. It's an undisputed fact that those Israeli youths were beaten pretty badly by Palestinians

The hiking story is certainly dubious to say the least, but the violence committed against them was very real.

[azurnoir]

6. yes that was said in snip in the OP didn't you read it? n/t

[oberliner]

7. Indeed

A tragedy all around, for all concerned.

[LeftishBrit]

3. Don't care for Yaalon, but he's right here!

[oberliner]

5. Good that the Israeli leadership is speaking out about this

That's for posting!