Israeli lawmaker under army escort smashes Palestinian memorial

Ramallah, Palestinian Territories – A far-right Israeli lawmaker took a sledgehammer to a Palestinian memorial in the occupied West Bank on Aug 25 while under military escort, a move that was later condemned both by the army and Israeli politicians.Footage circulating online showed Zvi Sukkot, who is also a settler and activist, smashing a monument commemorating “martyrs” in the Palestinian village of Madama in the northern West Bank, while soldiers stood nearby.“A few days ago, I demanded that the military take action to remove the monuments commemorating terrorists in the murderers’ villages of Madama and Burin. Unfortunately, they remained in place. So I went there myself and took action to remove them,” Sukkot posted on Facebook, along with a video of the act.When contacted by AFP, the Israeli military said Sukkot and his aides had conducted a “tour” of the area “with security provided by IDF soldiers who had been diverted from their operational activities for this purpose”.“Contrary to the agreed-upon coordination, the participants acted deceptively and manipulatively, without authorisation, departing entirely from the approved framework, and began demolishing one of the monuments in Madama,” it added.It said soldiers reported the incident to their commanders, who told them to stop the activity and “the participants were quickly escorted out of the village”.The military said it viewed Sukkot’s actions “with the utmost severity”, adding they “constituted a misuse of the protection provided by security forces to act entirely outside the scope of the approved framework”.In a statement, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the military “is the sovereign authority in Judea and Samaria”, using the Biblical term for the West Bank.“Taking the law into one’s own hands, especially when it involves public figures, is a reprehensible practice that prevents the IDF from focusing on its missions of combatting terrorism and incitement to violence,” he added.The filmed act took place as Israel prepares for elections on Oct 27, and also drew condemnation from Gadi Eisenkot, who has emerged as the principal challenger to Netanyahu.“Zvi Sukkot – like any other Knesset member – is not the sovereign in the territories of Judea and Samaria,” he wrote on X.“Netanyahu... is allowing anarchists like Zvi Sukkot and his ilk to do as they please, endangering security in the settlements and damaging Israel’s standing in the world,” he added.Rami Nassar, the head of Madama’s village council, told AFP the memorial at the centre of the village included the names of those killed in a 1968 battle, the first and second intifadas, and up until the present day.Israel often accuses the Palestinians of glorifying attacks on Israelis.Violence in the West Bank, occupied by Israel since 1967, has surged since the Gaza war began with Hamas’s Oct 7, 2023, attack on Israel. AFP