How Long Before Israelis Join With Palestinians Against Jihad-Jews (Crazy Settlers)?

 In a lengthy interview with the Haaretz newspaper running today, marking the Jewish new year, Gen [Gadi] Shamni [who is responsible for the occupation] said: “In the past, only a few dozen individuals took part in such activity [settler violence], but today that number has grown into the hundreds.

 “That’s a very significant change. These hundreds are engaged in conspiratorial actions against Palestinians and the security forces. It’s a very grave phenomenon.”

He said the extremists were “enjoying a tailwind and the backing of part of the leadership, both rabbinical and public, whether in explicit statements or tacitly”.

The timing of Gen Shamni’s comments is not accidental. In recent weeks, there has been a spate of settler attacks on soldiers in the West Bank. One had a dog set on him, another’s hand was broken, and a soldier in Hebron was beaten while trying to prevent settler children from throwing stones at Palestinians.

Soldiers were also set upon last month when settlers were tipped off that the army was planning to remove a single family from its makeshift camp at Yad Yair, west of Ramallah. The tyres of 10 military vehicles were slashed.