Saturday’s attack by extremist Jewish Israeli settlers in the West Bank went beyond even the frequent incidents of vigilante violence that have occurred since the current government headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came to power.
It left members of a European diplomatic delegation injured and their cars damaged. The day before, a Washington Post photojournalist, Heidi Levine, was badly beaten and almost lost a finger in a similar attack, after which she was hospitalized.
Beyond the moral outrage and the implications for the rule of law, the wave of settler violence in the West Bank is bad for Israeli interests. It undermines Jerusalem’s diplomatic relations, image and legitimacy abroad — even among its best friends — precisely when its global standing is at a nadir. Most Israelis also disapprove of settler violence, surveys show.
Yet instead of coming out unequivocally against the attacks, and using Israel’s world-class security services to identify and arrest the estimated few hundred core perpetrators, Netanyahu has chosen a different path.
Published originally on October 20 under the title “Settler Violence Harms Israel’s Interests. But for PM, Halting It Could Spell Political Trouble.”
Read the full article at the Times of Israel.
