Israeli civilians attacked IDF soldiers yesterday (Wed) near the village of Orif in Samaria.
According to a statement from the IDF spokesman, a military force arrived at the spot following the identification of a burnt Palestinian vehicle, and began a pursuit of the arson suspects. An Israeli vehicle that was there drove wildly towards the force, the Israeli citizens blocked the military vehicles, pushed the soldiers and tried to break into the military vehicle.
A complaint was filed with the Israel Police and an investigation was opened following the incident.
The statement of the IDF spokesman states that “The IDF condemns any display of violence against soldiers and the security forces. The security forces will continue to work to maintain security, law and order in Judea and Samaria, and will work to prevent violence and harm to civilians and residents.”
Large forces of the Border Guard and the Civil Administration yesterday uprooted about 1,100 trees in the plantations in the Shiloh Valley in Binyamin. Some activists responded to the call of the owner of the plantations, Chen Ben Eliyahu, to come and oppose the evacuation, some of them sat down on a road that leads to the place to prevent the arrival of the forces, and another activist climbed one of the trees. One activist was arrested on suspicion of firing fireworks into the air and another 24 were removed from the scene. Violent confrontations developed between them and the security forces.
Member of Knesset from Otzma Yehudit Limor Son Har Melech arrived at the scene and police officers blocked her with their bodies. In an interview with Keren Neubach on the “Seder Yom” program in Kan, Network B, Son Har Melech said that “as soon as I tried to leave there, a very difficult incident happened for me as a woman.” She continued And she repeated that when she tried to fight off one of the police officers who surrounded her and added: “In our definitions it is called sexual assault. Everything is allowed.”
The Israel Police stated: “Following the serious incident, the MGB commander instructed that at the end of the activity, an immediate investigation will be carried out by the S. MGB commander of the IOSH. The MGB commander considers the incident as serious as not reflecting the values of the corps and its professionalism, and instructed in the initial stage to suspend the three fighters involved in the incident, until the investigation into the matter is completed.”
Bezalel Smotrich, Minister of Finance and Minister in the Ministry of Defense, sent a letter to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu “in shock”, in which he called on him to immediately stop the evacuation and added that “the Minister of Defense grossly violated the coalition agreement and reversed my decision”. At the end of the letter, Smotrich warned that “a violation of agreements will make it very difficult for the government and the coalition to run properly.”