Top general in West Bank warns ‘Jewish terrorism’ could spark Palestinian uprising — report

Central Command chief Avi Bluth reportedly cautions that Palestinians ‘won’t remain indifferent forever’ to settler violence, which he laments is ‘causing unfathomable damage to Israel’

Israel Defense Forces Central Command chief Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth recently warned that rising settler violence in the West Bank could spark a Palestinian uprising, according to a Thursday report.

Describing the phenomenon as “Jewish terrorism,” Bluth cautioned that “it’s quite a miracle the Palestinian public is still indifferent… but it won’t remain indifferent forever,” the Haaretz daily reported, citing remarks he made in a closed forum on an unspecified date.

Bluth reportedly said he recently warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his cabinet that though overall Palestinian terror levels are low, tensions are building beneath the surface, while advising on measures to lower tensions such as allowing the transfer of funds to the Palestinian Authority that Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has held up.

“The coffee brewing is a good coffee – the level of terrorism is at its lowest – but there’s a constant simmer and we don’t know where it will spill over. And when it spills over, it spills quickly,” he was quoted as saying.

Bluth also reportedly pointed to a direct link between settler attacks and Palestinian violence, saying, “We know today of people [Palestinians] who were harmed in ‘price tag’ attacks and immediately afterward went out to carry out an attack.”

The term “price tag” is used by extremist Jews to describe attacks carried out against Palestinians, the military, and other targets as retribution for Israeli government decisions they perceive as being oriented against settlers.

According to Haaretz, Bluth argued that much of the violence originates from wildcat outposts established without state coordination and described perpetrators as “fringe anarchist youth,” adding that their actions are “infuriating” and “causing unimaginable damage to the State of Israel and the Zionist enterprise.

The general criticized what he described as weak law enforcement, saying punishments handed down to suspects were “a joke” and failed to deter further attacks, the report said, adding that he also criticized Defense Minister Israel Katz’s decision to end the use of administrative detention for Jewish suspects.

Bluth reportedly said some settlers sought to exploit the war with Iran to escalate violence, saying they believed it was “the time to conquer Area A,” referring to the part of the West Bank under full control of the Palestinian Authority following the Oslo Accords.

“You need to meet these people… they are causing unfathomable damage to the State of Israel and Zionist enterprise,” Bluth was quoted as saying. “I know communities in the West Bank where they say, ‘I am against violence but the time has come for us to deter,’ but don’t see the slippery slope they are leading the country down.”

According to Haaretz, Bluth also said “these people don’t see Arabs as human beings and think they can burn people, burn homes with their occupants – and unfortunately they do so time and again,” calling the phenomenon “a disgrace to the Jewish people” and noting that he was personally “ashamed” of the matter.

Critics accuse the government of turning a blind eye to violent attacks by settlers, which have become increasingly deadly in recent years.

Extremist settlers, sometimes in mobs, have been recorded assaulting Palestinians, torching cars, and damaging property. Arrests in such cases are rare, and convictions are even less common, though the attacks take place on a daily basis.

The Israel Defense Forces has also faced criticism for often standing by while attacks unfold — with troops sometimes actively participating — or failing to prosecute those responsible.

Some critics claim that the overwhelming impunity enjoyed by attackers demonstrates that the violence is sanctioned, if not encouraged, by the government.

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir last month issued a sharp condemnation of settler violence, calling attacks against Palestinian civilians and soldiers in the West Bank “morally and ethically unacceptable” and a major strategic impediment.