Settlers push for minister to resign over statements over settler violence
Jerusalem24 – Settlers in the West Bank are putting pressure on the Israeli government and Internal Security Minister Omer Bar-Lev after his statements about the violence practiced by them against Palestinians in the West Bank.
A few days ago, Bar Lev tweeted that he discussed the issue of settler violence with American Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland, and told her that Israel takes settler violence seriously; and that he is working with the Israeli Defense Ministry to eliminate this phenomenon.
According to the Israeli Ynet website, the families of the settlers who were killed in Palestinian operations demanded Bar Lev to apologize for his statements, or to resign.
These moves are led by settler leaders, led by the extremist Yossi Dagan, who said that such a person (Bar-Lev), does not deserve to be a minister, and must resign.
It seems that the settler leaders in the West Bank are behind these pressures, which have increased due to the weak position of the Israeli government and its president, Naftali Bennett, who opposed Bar-Lev’s statements and called on him not to involve the public in everything he discusses with the personalities he meets, and considered the violence practiced by settlers in the West Bank against the Palestinians as “a phenomenon marginal.”
Israeli human rights organizations denounced the statements of Bennett and some of his ministers, noting that what is happening is an existing and not marginal phenomenon, and that there is a significant increase in the number of attacks by settlers against Palestinians.
