Pro-settler IDF troops mutiny on West Bank
On Nov. 16, a group of Israeli soldiers disobeyed orders to assist in the dismantling of two wooden structures that Jewish settlers had built without Israeli government authorization near Hebron. A military official said two of the soldiers were sent to prison for 30 days and permanently dismissed from command or combat positions. Several others are still being investigated. The area was secured by soldiers from an infantry battalion, some of whom "did not follow orders given to them," the official told Reuters, declining to provide exact numbers. The YNet news service said six soldiers were relieved of duty.
Last month, a group of conscripts disrupted their swearing-in ceremony at Jerusalem's Western Wall, calling for continued Jewish settlement in the West Bank. The military said two soldiers were sentenced to 20 days in jail for their actions at the holy site and removed permanently from the unit.
"Our security and existence depend on the Israel Defense Forces," Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu responded to the mutiny. "If you promote disobedience, you will bring about the downfall of the state. There is no place for disobedience." But chief of staff Lt-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi played down the significance of the protests. "This is not a political tidal wave washing through the military and the matter has not spiraled out of control," he said. (Zaman, Turkey, Nov. 18; Reuters, Nov. 16)
The mutiny comes amid controversy over apparent extremist comments by Brig. Gen. Avichai Rontzki, the IDF's chief military rabbi. The Israeli daily Haaretz on Nov. 15 published statements Rontzki reportedly made last week in a lecture at a hesder yeshiva (which combines Torah study with military service) in the West Bank settlement of Karnei Shomron. Quoting the medieval Jewish scholar Maimonides, he said that "in times of war, whoever doesn't fight with all his heart and soul is damned—if he keeps his sword from bloodshed, if he shows mercy toward his enemy when no mercy should be shown." He then immediately applied these words to the current controversy over Israel's Gaza campaign, saying that in Operation Cast Lead, the IDF "fought with all their heart and soul" because "the people of Israel has united recently around the simple understanding of how it must fight." Rontzki later denied having made the remarks. (Haartez, Nov. 17)
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10,000 West Bank settlers protest
Some 10,000 West Bank settlers and their supporters protested in downtown Jerusalem Dec. 9, pledging to defy a temporary building ban imposed by Prime Minister Netanyahu. Protesters held signs and banners reading "We will continue to build" and "Stop Iran's nukes, not our homes." The recent decision to bar new housing development in the settlements for 10 months was meant to help the Obama administration's efforts to restart Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations. The pause does not include East Jerusalem and allows for the completion of settler homes where construction has already begun. (AP, Dec. 10)
Settlers suspected in West Bank mosque arson
Fire was set to a large mosque in the West Bank Palestinian village of Yasuf, east of Salfit, the night of Dec. 10., with Hebrew slurs sprayed on the walls, including: "We will burn all of you." The words "price tag" were also scrawled on the walls—the slogan adopted by extremist settlers who carry out reprisals against Palestinians in response to the evacuation of settlement structures by Israeli Defense Forces. (YNet, Dec. 11)
Israel's chief rabbi condemns mosque burning
Israel's chief rabbi visited the Palestinian village of Yasuf Dec. 14 to condemn the burning of a mosque there, saying the attack brought back memories of the Holocaust. The rabbi, Yona Metzger, said arson was especially troubling to Jews because their holy places were burned by the Nazis. "In the State of Israel, we will not allow a Jew to do something like this to Muslims," he said. (AP, Dec. 14)
Good, but please note that Yasuf is not in "the State of Israel."
Arrest in West Bank mosque burning
Israeli police arrested Dec. 31 a teenage settler suspected of involvement in the arson attack on a West Bank mosque three weeks ago. In the Dec. 11 attack, vandals burned copies of the Koran and prayer carpets, and scrawled slogans in Hebrew such as "We will burn you all" on the walls. (Ma'an News Agency, Dec. 31)
US cash behind extremist settlers
As one reader writes, "I wonder if the Feds will seize funds of the Hebron Fund now as they did of Alavi Foundation..." Andrew Kadi and Aaron Levitt write on The Guardian's Comment is Free page, Dec. 8: