IDF chief condemns Jewish settler violence, upholds army's moral obligation in officer graduation ceremony

Israel Defense Forces Chief-of-Staff Herzi Halevi condemned nationalistic violence against Palestinians by Jewish settlers on Wednesday, stating that IDF officers must act to protect Palestinians from such attacks by Israeli citizens.

“An officer who sees an Israeli citizen intending to throw a Molotov cocktail at a Palestinian house and stands by cannot be an officer,” Halevi told a group of officers at the IDF graduation ceremony

“You will encounter complex challenges. Terrorism and its difficult consequences bring some people to commit acts that are legally and ethically forbidden.”

Halevi told the graduating officers that “an IDF commander leads by example and commands from the front.”

Earlier on Wednesday, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant ordered the arrest of four Israeli suspects who participated in the violent riots and arson attacks on Palestinian villages last week.

Following the attacks on the Palestinian villages in the West Bank last week, the Israel Security Agency, known in Hebrew as Shin Bet, identified four of the participants, who had already been identified due to previous incidents involving nationalist crime.

Gallant signed the orders for their arrest and administrative detainment based on the recommendation of Shin Bet and with support from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

A Defense Ministry official announced the orders before they were delivered to lawyers.

The four detainees have been involved for years in violent, overt and secret incidents. In the past, they were detained, and restraining orders were issued against them, yet they continued their actions. And last week on several occasions they damaged Palestinian property, which led to the burning of vehicles and endangering innocent lives,” a senior security official told Ynet news.

The source said some of the four suspects had also “acted in violent incidents against security forces” in the past and the defense ministry confirmed that two of them do not live in Judea and Samaria, where the settler violence took place..

On Wednesday, Knesset Member Meirav Ben-Ari of the Yesh Atid party asked Gallant if the military was ready for the next outbreak of violence.

“You don't have to be an intelligence officer to understand that, God forbid, as in the previous two times, in the next terror incident we will probably see settlers go out to burn houses. I ask you, Mr. Minister, is the army ready for the next event?” she asked.

Gallant responded: “The settlers in Judea and Samaria are law-abiding citizens, but at the same time there is a group of law-and-order rioters. A significant number of them are not residents of Judea and Samaria; this is a very dangerous group that is denounced by the settlement and its leadership.”

He assured the Knesset member that the Israeli military, Shin Bet security and Netanyahu are all concerned about the next outbreak of violence.

Gallant was criticized by a Jewish settler group, Honenu, for signing the arrest order against the four Jewish settlers. They accused him of “infringing on human rights in the most fatal way."

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir also attacked Gallant, accusing him of unequal treatment in a social media post.

"Boys who were suspected of setting fire to property, a crime that deserves strong condemnation and police treatment, interest the Shin Bet and get administrative arrests," the post began.

"Organized, murderous and armed crime militias in Arab society, of which intelligence reports indicate serious dangers - there is no activation of the Shin Bet, no administrative arrests," he added.

Ben Gvir was the defense lawyer for several settler youth accused – and convicted – of violence against Palestinians before entering politics.