Israeli Lawmaker Smashes Palestinian Memorial in West Bank Village During Army-Escorted Visit

An Israeli lawmaker from a far-right party has wrecked a Palestinian memorial with a sledgehammer while touring an occupied West Bank village under military protection, an episode that has triggered anger from Palestinians and unusually broad censure inside Israel itself.

Video recorded in the village of Madama shows Zvi Sukkot, who sits in the Knesset for the Religious Zionism party, joining several other people in repeatedly striking the stone monument. Addressing the camera during the episode, Sukkot defended the destruction, saying that no site honouring terrorism could be permitted to remain in place.

According to Rami Nasar, who heads Madama's village council, the monument was put up in 2008. It commemorates Palestinians who died in the battle of Karameh, a day-long clash in 1968 pitting Israeli forces against fighters of the Palestine Liberation Organization and Jordan, and also pays tribute to those killed during the first and second intifadas.

Nasar stressed that the memorial was conceived as a tribute to Palestinians who lost their lives in conflict with Israel, irrespective of their political loyalties.

The Israeli military confirmed that troops were on hand as the events unfolded. The IDF said it had authorised a tour of monuments around the area for Sukkot and had deployed soldiers for his protection. However, the army insisted that the lawmaker and his companions had behaved deceptively and exceeded what was permitted. Soldiers eventually halted the group and escorted them out of Madama after informing their commanders of what had happened, the military added.

Israeli soldiers have previously been filmed looking on without stepping in during episodes involving violence by settlers against Palestinians. The latest affair comes at an especially volatile moment, with a surge in settler assaults on Palestinians in recent months provoking sharp criticism internationally. Madama has itself been hit by repeated settler attacks over the years.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office moved to distance itself from the incident, issuing a statement that condemned vigilante conduct. It warned that taking the law into one's own hands is a reprehensible practice, particularly when public figures are involved, because it distracts the IDF from its core mission of fighting terrorism and incitement.

Netanyahu's chief rival ahead of the coming general election, Gadi Eisenkot, went further, branding Sukkot's conduct a disgrace for anyone who claims to represent the public and to lead. Eisenkot accused the prime minister of allowing anarchists such as Sukkot and their allies to act freely, endangering security in the settlements and damaging Israel's reputation abroad.

But the most prominent defence came from within Sukkot's own camp. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who leads the Religious Zenith leader's Religious Zionism faction, saved his harshest words not for the lawmaker but for opponents, attacking what he described as the frantic rush of the left-wing opposition to condemn Sukkot rather than terrorism itself.

Concerns at the top of the military establishment have also been laid bare. On Monday, Israeli media reported that Major General Avi Bluth, the most senior Israeli commander in the West Bank, told Netanyahu during a closed-door meeting that the mounting wave of settler violence risked igniting a major escalation in the territory.

Sukkot has a record of provocative actions directed at Palestinians, and Monday's footage — which showed him swinging the sledgehammer while soldiers stood nearby — is likely to intensify scrutiny of both the lawmaker and the military's role in facilitating such visits. With elections approaching and tensions across the West Bank already running high, the fate of one shattered monument in Madama has become the latest flashpoint in a wider struggle over Israel's direction.

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