Photo Credit: Courtesy of Honenu
Binyamin Brigade Commander Col. Eliav Elbaz placed a lockdown on the settlement of Ateret and stood at the gate to personally inspect every vehicle coming in and out, June 25, 2023.

Following Saturday’s settlers’ attack in the PA Arab village of Umm Safa, the Binyamin Brigade Commander Col. Eliav Elbaz placed a lockdown on the settlement of Ateret and stood at the gate to personally inspect every vehicle coming in and out.

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On Saturday, several dozen Ateret residents went into Umm Safa, home to several Arab terrorists, clashed with local residents causing a few light injuries, and set fire to four homes and 20 vehicles. The raid was part of the protest of Samarian Jews of the IDF’s removal of road checkpoints, a move that allowed the murder of four Jews in Eli last week. As I suggested here, if rioting in nearby Arab villages is the only way to bring in the IDF, then, by all means, riot.

But then the IDF, which has been reluctant to place lockdowns around PA Arab villages out of which came hundreds of terrorists for fear of being accused by the world media and the folks at the Criminal Court at the Hague of collective punishment, had no trouble doing to collective punishment thing in Ateret.

And, as was to be expected, the police were a lot more brutal against the settlers than against the PA Arab rioters. In one instance, a police officer tore off the beard of a settler he was manhandling. So 1938.

Honenu attorney Nati Rom said: “There has been a lockdown here for many hours, led by the brigade commander who is standing at the entrance with masked security forces and the Shin Bet. The forces do not allow leaving and entering the settlement without a strict check inside the vehicles, and they also carry out collective arrests. This is collective punishment that we have not seen, for example, in al-Mughayyir village after the locals threw more than ten explosive charges. We asked the IDF for a lockdown there and they told us that there was no approval from the political echelon, and the command commander does not allow it.
But here, the collective punishment is easy. This is inconceivable, it is wrong, it is illegal and it must be stopped immediately.”

Minister Bezalel Smotrich responded: “The attempt to create an equation between the murderous Arab terrorism and acts against civilians, however serious they may be, is morally wrong and practically dangerous. Administrative arrests of settlers are a draconian and undemocratic measure, and the fact that they are used only against settlers in Judea and Samaria and not against other violent groups in the State of Israel constitutes severe discrimination.”

Smotrich added: “The collective punishment that is currently being carried out in the settlement of Ateret is severe and outrageous. For months we have been demanding the return of the checkpoints and a thorough inspection at the entrance and exit to hostile villages, and they have been denied due to the IDF’s opposition to collective punishment. How can it be that in Umm Safa––the village out of which Arab rioters came again and again in the last few days––there is no inspection and in Ateret there is? I call on the army to stop this immediately.”

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir instructed the police to investigate the Saturday night events at Ateret. He wants an explanation as to why the gate of the settlement was blocked, and why was there collective punishment and inspection of those leaving and entering the settlement. Ben Gvir also demanded to know why a bystander was Tased by an officer.

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David Israel
David writes news at JewishPress.com.