Israel’s president speaks out on growing Israeli violence and brutality
Isabel Kershner
Jerusalem: Israeli president Isaac Herzog on Sunday issued an unusually harsh denunciation of what he called “a terrible process of brutality” that has spread through Israeli society.
He cited increasing “mob” violence by Jews against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and examples of banditry that included mistreatment of detainees in Israeli custody.
Herzog, whose role is largely ceremonial, was speaking at an event at his official residence to present the annual Jerusalem Unity Prize. The award was given by the families of three Israelis who were kidnapped and killed by Palestinians in the West Bank in 2014.
“I wish I could just talk about unity today,” Herzog said, before launching into a discussion of actions by some Israelis that have drawn international condemnation and “threaten us all.”
“There are some among us who are almost no longer surprised by violence,” Herzog said. “Some other quarters take it for granted.”
He warned that extremist and inhumane behavior is normalized and even celebrated by some people on the margins of Israeli society, and that such violent behavior “threatens to enter the mainstream.”
Herzog also noted the increase in armed violence among Israel’s Arab minority, which makes up about one-fifth of the population. And he condemned the “shameful and outrageous behavior of extremists against Christians and Muslims living among us.”
But he specifically condemned extremist settlers in the West Bank, describing them as a lawless, anarchist mob whose attacks “desecrate our home and depart from any basic norms, whether moral, legal or Jewish.”
He also condemned that “a handful of people who think that detainees, interrogators or suspects have no human rights” are carrying out “brutal actions” against detainees.
Lack of limits
Israeli presidents as a rule act as a unifying voice and avoid controversy. But Herzog appeared to express frustration at the lack of boundaries set by members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling coalition, the most right-wing and religiously conservative in Israeli history.
Netanyahu downplayed the increasingly intense and sometimes deadly settler violence against Palestinians as the work of “a bunch of kids.” Israeli security forces often turn a blind eye to the violence and in some cases join the attackers in the service of expanding the Jewish settlement project.
The Israel Prison Service and other authorities publicly deny abuses in detention centers, despite growing evidence of mistreatment of detainees, including sexual assault.
Israel’s far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, is widely accused of encouraging thuggish behavior. He boasts about toughening conditions for Palestinian security prisoners.
Last week, Ben-Gvir released a video in which he taunted detained pro-Palestinian activists as they were handcuffed and pinned to the deck of a ship. Israeli forces had captured the fleet aiming to break Israel’s naval blockade in the Gaza Strip. In the minute-long video, at least one of the detainees can be seen being manhandled by police officers.
Ben-Gvir’s actions sparked outrage both abroad and at home, including a rebuke from his political ally Netanyahu.
On Sunday, Ben-Gvir took umbrage at Herzog’s remarks, which used a Hebrew word that can be translated as “bestial.”
“The president of a country that calls hundreds of thousands of citizens of the State of Israel monsters is not worthy of being president,” he said on social media. “Period.”
This article was first published on: New York Times.
Get notes directly from our foreign correspondents on events making headlines around the world. Sign up for our weekly What’s on in the World Newsletter.
