Ex-Israeli PM Bennett calls attacks on Palestinians ‘Jewish terrorism’

Naftali Bennett has called attacks on Palestinian homes, including cases in which residents are inside, “Jewish terrorism,” breaking sharply with any attempt to treat such violence as part of the settlement cause.

“If someone comes to burn down the home of innocent Arabs with the people inside it, then of course that is Jewish terrorism,” the former Israeli prime minister told the Besheva conference on Sunday. “If it is done for nationalist reasons, that is the definition.”

“

If someone comes to burn down the home of innocent Arabs with the people inside it, then of course that is Jewish terrorism.

Bennett said such acts should be condemned and questioned their political purpose. “I don’t understand how this serves the settlement movement,” he said.

His comments came ahead of Israel’s general election on Oct. 27. The contest is centered on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party and his main challengers, including former army Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot and Bennett himself.

“

If it is done for nationalist reasons, that is the definition.

The remarks also coincided with a reported rise in attacks by the Israeli military and settlers in the occupied West Bank. Violence by illegal Israeli settlers has intensified in recent years, with killings, assaults, arson, vandalism and the destruction of Palestinian homes, farmland and other property among the reported attacks.

Rights groups and United Nations officials have repeatedly raised concerns about settler violence and what they describe as a lack of accountability. Palestinians have also faced growing displacement as Israeli settlement expansion continues across the territory. Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank are considered illegal under international law.

“

I don’t understand how this serves the settlement movement.