President Herzog condemns Jewish ‘vigilante violence’: Israel is ‘a nation of the rule of law’

Following a series of violent attacks by Jewish Israelis against Palestinian civilians in Judea and Samaria, Israel's president condemned “vigilante violence” by radical settler activists while visiting the IDF’s Judea and Samaria Division on Wednesday.

“We are a nation of the rule of law, and as a democracy with the rule of law, we make sure that the rule of law applies here. I condemn any effort to undermine this by vigilantes, and we will do whatever it takes so that these vigilantes will be arrested and brought to trial,” President Isaac Herzog said.

In the latest incident, which made headlines in Israel and around the world, a mob of around 100 rioters clashed with IDF and police forces on Tuesday as they attempted to escort Palestinian families back to their homes outside the town of Jalud, which had been taken over by settler activists.

The attempt failed amid violent clashes that left three officers lightly wounded.

Herzog stressed, “The main challenge of our forces here is to prevent terror. There are terror challenges all the time. We thank the IDF for both fighting terror and applying the law, and applying and honoring judgments. I am sure that together with all the forces on the ground, we will be able to overcome all challenges.”

Israel's domestic intelligence agency, Shin Bet, and the police later said the IDF had failed to properly coordinate the move in Jalud in advance.

“If the army decides not to coordinate, it needs to understand that this is an event that is much more sensitive in many respects, and therefore it needs to come with a force strong enough to prepare for the possibility that there will be someone who tries to confront [it],” officials told Channel 12 News.

They said that the escort force, comprised of IDF and Border Police officers, was completely overwhelmed by the large mob, and used riot-dispersal measures, including rubber bullets and tear gas, while sheltering with the Palestinian family on the second floor of a house.

A series of violent incidents in recent months has drawn unusually sharp criticism from Israel’s allies, including the United States.

On Tuesday, a senior U.S. State Department official told Channel 12 that Washington was aware of the latest incident. "We condemn criminal violence by any party in the West Bank and support carrying out appropriate investigations, bringing those responsible to justice, and legal proceedings against those responsible for it,” the official said.

A commander on the scene said, “We experience many incidents of friction in the area, especially around the evacuation of illegal outposts in Areas A and B, most of them violent. We do not remember violence as severe as last night; we have never in our lives experienced such intense violence against the combat forces.”

“We saw between 100 and 200 rioters behaving with a very clear intention – to hurt you,” he recounted. “This is a completely different incident, extreme, exceptional, and violent. The rioters were extremely violent; the main instigators reeked of alcohol. At some point, we ran out of riot-dispersal measures, and the last resort was to open fire, and there was an instruction not to open live fire.”

“I did not think that as a combat soldier and commander who dedicates my life to protecting the residents, I would have to deal with such a situation.” Three suspects were later arrested for taking part in the clashes.

The High Court recently criticized the IDF’s handling of cases involving violence by Jewish rioters.

Regarding the incident in the town of Qusra in Samaria two weeks ago, the justices wrote, “The phenomenon harms the international image of the State of Israel as a state governed by the rule of law. But first and foremost, this is a phenomenon that is entirely unacceptable, which stands in contradiction to the basic moral values and principles of the State of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, and in contradiction to the principles of liberty, integrity, and justice of the heritage of Israel and the prophets of Israel.”