Far-right Israeli lawmaker damages Palestinian memorial with sledgehammer

BySebastian Usher Global affairs correspondent.

Key points

• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office has issued a statement criticising Sukkot's actions.
• A far-right member of the Israeli parliament has badly damaged a Palestinian memorial with a sledgehammer in the occupied West Bank while under military escort.
• Video footage indicated Zvi Sukkot, a member of the far-right Religious Zionism party, and a number of others striking the stone memorial in the Palestinian village of Madama.
• The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) remarked its soldiers had been present during the incident.
• The incident has further raised the temperature in the West Bank, where increasing attacks by settlers on Palestinians in recent months have drawn international condemnation.

Notably, a far-right member of the Israeli parliament has badly damaged a Palestinian memorial with a sledgehammer in the occupied West Bank while under military escort.

In practice, the incident has drawn solid criticism from Palestinians and throughout the political spectrum in Israel.

In the video, Sukkot – who has a history of provocative anti-Palestinian acts – notes: "This is something we cannot leave standing here, because any place that glorifies terrorism, we must remove it."

Rami Nasar, the head of the village council in Madama, remarked that the monument was erected in 2008 to remember Palestinians killed in the battle of Karameh – a day-long military confrontation between Israeli forces and those of both the PLO and Jordan in 1968. It additionally memorialises Palestinians killed in the first and second intifada.

Nasar remarked it was intended to honour those who had been killed in conflict with Israel, whatever their political affiliation.

Meanwhile, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) remarked its soldiers had been present during the incident. The Israeli military remarked it had approved a tour of monuments in the area for Sukkot and was providing security.

But the IDF remarked he and the others involved had acted deceptively and without authorisation.

It remarked soldiers eventually ceased Sukkot and escorted his group out of Madama after reporting the incident to their commanders.

In a number of previous incidents involving settler violence, soldiers have been filmed standing by without intervening.

For context, the incident has further raised the temperature in the West Bank, where increasing attacks by settlers on Palestinians in recent months have drawn international condemnation. Madama itself has been the target of a number of attacks by settlers.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office has issued a statement criticising Sukkot's actions. It read: "Taking the law into one's own hands, especially when it involves public figures, is a reprehensible practice that prevents the IDF from focusing on its missions of combating terrorism and incitement to violence."

Netanyahu's main rival in the upcoming general election, Gadi Eisenkot, remarked that Sukkot's behaviour was "a disgrace for anyone who claims to represent the public and be a leader".

Eisenkot additionally criticised Netanyahu for "allowing anarchists like Zvi Sukkot and his ilk to do whatever they please, endangering security in the settlements and harming Israel's standing in the world".

But finance minister Bezalel Smotrich – who heads the Religious Zionism party to which Sukkot belongs – directed his fiercest criticism at what he called the "frantic rush of the left-wing opposition to condemn Sukkot rather than terrorism itself".

On Monday, the most senior Israeli military officer in the West Bank, Major General Avi Bluth, was documented by Israeli media to have informed Netanyahu in a closed-door session that the mounting violence by settlers could ignite a major escalation.

Taken together, the developments around far-right Israeli lawmaker damages Palestinian memorial with sledgehammer point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.