Religious Zionist Party MK Tzvi Sukkot personally demolished monuments honoring terrorists in two Palestinian villages near Yitzhar on Tuesday, wielding a sledgehammer after saying the defense establishment had failed to act on his previous demands to remove the memorials.
Sukkot, who chairs the Knesset Education Committee and the Judea and Samaria Affairs Subcommittee, traveled Tuesday morning to the villages of Madama and Burin, where he began smashing structures erected in memory of terrorists.
The lawmaker said he decided to act himself because his requests to defense officials to dismantle monuments honoring individuals responsible for murdering Jews had gone unanswered.
His actions followed an investigation published by Hakol Hayehudi, a news outlet associated with the hilltop youth, which reported that memorials honoring terrorists had been erected in the villages. According to the report, events had also been conducted around the monuments at which sweets were distributed to children.
One of the terrorists commemorated was Yaman Tayeb Ali Faraj, who, according to findings by the Supreme Court, played a role in dispatching the terrorist responsible for the 2003 attack at the Geha Interchange in central Israel. Adva Fisher, Staff Sergeant Noam Leibowitz, Corporal Angelina Shcherov and Corporal Rotem Weinberger were murdered in the attack, and another 20 people were wounded.
In Burin, Sukkot also destroyed a memorial dedicated to Hamdan Hussein Mahmoud a-Najar. In December 1988, a-Najar attacked Yaakov Faraj near Har Bracha, murdered him and stole his firearm before shooting at IDF troops who arrived at the scene. Pvt. Arthur Harzig was killed and two other soldiers were wounded before troops killed the terrorist.
Sukkot’s decision to personally demolish the monuments triggered widespread condemnation from political leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who characterized such conduct as taking the law into one’s own hands.
“The IDF is the sovereign authority in Judea and Samaria and is responsible for implementing the decisions of the political echelon. Taking the law into one’s own hands, particularly by public officials, is unacceptable and prevents the IDF from focusing on its missions against terrorism and incitement,” Netanyahu stated.
Naftali Bennett, chairman of the “Together” Party, also attacked Sukkot’s actions, accusing the government of damaging Israel’s security and international standing for political publicity.
“The chaos government is harming Israel’s security and its standing in the world in order to scrape together views on TikTok. Terrorism is fought through action, not pathetic provocations. It was not enough for Smotrich and Sukkot to serve as the architects of the Draft Evasion Law and abandon IDF soldiers to carry the burden alone. Now they are also undermining their missions and endangering their lives for election campaign videos.
“Netanyahu knows they are dragging Israel to an unprecedented low, but he cannot do anything because he has no government without Ben-Gvir and the anti-Zionist haredi parties. It will take years to repair the damage they have caused, but everything they have destroyed, we will fix,” Bennett asserted.
Gadi Eisenkot, chairman of the “Yashar!” Party, similarly denounced Sukkot, accusing him of misleading the military and damaging Israel’s security.
“Tzvi Sukkot’s conduct is a disgrace for someone who purports to represent the public and be a leader. He lied to and misled the IDF and its commanders, harmed security and tarnished the entire State of Israel.”
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar joined the criticism, stressing that authority in Judea and Samaria rests with the state and its security agencies rather than individual lawmakers.
“MK Tzvi Sukkot, like any other member of Knesset, is not the sovereign authority in Judea and Samaria. Decisions must be made and implemented by the state and its authorities, the IDF and the security forces, and by them alone. This is also the message that elected officials should convey to the public. Unfortunately, MK Sukkot knowingly did the opposite.”
The episode also prompted criticism from within Sukkot’s own Religious Zionist Party. In an internal party WhatsApp group, MK Ohad Tal questioned whether there was any political strategy behind the highly publicized demolition.
“I want to understand – was this move coordinated with the campaign? Is there some deep strategy behind it that I am completely missing, or have we simply decided to commit political suicide once and for all? I’m genuinely asking.”
Religious Zionist Party chairman Bezalel Smotrich subsequently reprimanded Sukkot, telling him that such actions must be undertaken with proper authorization and within the limits of official authority, “as is done on matters concerning Judea and Samaria communities,” and instructed him not to repeat such conduct.
Sukkot had previously appealed to defense authorities to remove the monuments, arguing that people who carried out attacks against Israelis should not be publicly commemorated in areas under Israeli security control. He contended that removing the structures was only part of the issue, saying Israel must also prevent terrorists from being portrayed as heroes and role models for younger Palestinians.
“A few days ago, I demanded that the army remove the monuments commemorating terrorists in the murderous villages of Madama and Burin, but unfortunately, they remained. I therefore came myself and acted to remove them. My message today is simple and clear: We will not tolerate a situation in which those who harmed Jews and IDF soldiers are commemorated as heroes and presented to the next generation as figures worthy of admiration. Alongside the fight against terrorism itself, we must prevent attempts to legitimize it in the public consciousness and to raise the children in these villages, who will make up the next generation of Arabs in Judea and Samaria, on a legacy that portrays the murder of Jews as an act of heroism,” Sukkot said.
Sukkot further argued that the history of deadly attacks originating from the villages made the continued existence of the memorials intolerable.
“Many Jews paid with their lives as a result of terrorists who came from these villages. We will not allow the murderers of Jews to be turned into heroes, nor will we allow the commemoration of terrorism to become part of our public space.”
IDF officials later said that the military had already been preparing to demolish the monument in Madama that Sukkot smashed and that an authorized operation to remove it was planned for the coming weeks.
“Dozens of similar monuments have already been demolished in Judea and Samaria, and an operation to demolish this monument legally and in an orderly manner by the security forces was scheduled to take place in the coming weeks. Preliminary inspections were also conducted by the Samaria Brigade ahead of the demolition of monuments,” the officials said.
{Matzav.com}
