Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Tuesday criticized Minister of Internal Security Omer Barlev (Labor) who reported a conversation with Under Secretary of State Victoria Nuland about settler violence (Terrifying: Internal Security Minister Barlev Discussed ‘Settler Violence’ with Top US Official).
Meanehile, on Tuesday, Minister Barlev and Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai toured southern Mount Hebron “following the settlers’ violence,” Army radio reporter Shahar Glick tweeted. Glick cited sources involved in the details of the event who said Barlev chose not to meet with the local Jewish residents or with any of the officials in the council.
השר לבטחון הפנים ומפכ”ל המשטרה קובי שבתאי קיימו בשעות האחרונות סיור בדרום הר-חברון “בעקבות אלימות המתנחלים”. מפקד המחוז ניצב עוזי לוי העביר להם סקירה על הגזרה. על פי גורמים המעורים בפרטים – בר לב בחר שלא להיפגש עם תושבי המקום היהודיים או עם מי מהגורמים במועצה pic.twitter.com/FVvB1b1JzC
— שחר גליק (@glick_sh)
Bennett stated that “the settlers in Judea and Samaria have been suffering from violence and terrorism, every day, for decades. They are the protective wall for all of us and we must strengthen and support them, in words and deeds. There are marginal phenomena in every public, they must be handled using every means possible, but we must not generalize about an entire public.”
Nuland told Barlev at their meeting that the State Department is monitoring “settlers violence,” and he replied that he was working with the Ministry of Defense to “make sure that IDF soldiers are more clearly familiar with the rules in situations where they encounter violence by Jews against Arabs.”
As we wrote earlier, Barlev has been criticized by everyone with a Twitter account on the Israeli right, including members of the coalition. Opposition members used this as an opportunity to drive home the point that the right-wing coalition members cannot control the anti-settler attitudes and policies of the left-leaning Barlev and Defense Minister Benny Gantz.