As the IDF scoured the West Bank for three Israeli teen boys kidnapped by Arab terrorists last week while hitchhiking in the West Bank, the tires of an IDF officer's vehicle were punctured in the Jewish West Bank settlement of Yitzhar in an apparent price tag attack.
Above: Price tag graffiti on painted on an Arab house (File photo)
IDF Officer’s Vehicle Attacked By Jewish Settlers In Yitzhar As Officer Aids Search For Kidnapped Boys
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
As the IDF scoured the West Bank for three Israeli teen boys kidnapped by Arab terrorists last week while hitchhiking in the West Bank, the tires of an IDF officer's vehicle were punctured in the Jewish West Bank settlement of Yitzhar in an apparent price tag attack, Ynet reported.
The attack – likely carried out by Jewish settler teens linked to extremist Chabad Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh and his Od Yosef Chai yeshiva located in Yitzhar – is the latest in a long string of apparent price tag attacks carried out by settler youth and their supporters against Christians, Muslims and the IDF.
While the tires were being slashed, 100 Jewish settlers demonstrated at Gush Etzion Junction in the West Bank calling for the immediate release of the kidnapped boys. Demonstrators clashed with police and the IDF and three people were reportedly detained for allegedly disrupting the peace.
The Yitzhar IDF vehicle whose tires were slashed reportedly belongs to an IDF officer who is deeply involved in the search for three kidnapped boys and who had delivered portable toilets with the vehicle for searchers to use.
That officer “hasn't slept in days because of the logistical worries he had for the reinforcement forces that arrived to the regional brigade in Samara. He only wanted to take care of the soldiers' needs. How unthankful!,” a source close to the officer told Ynet.
The IDF, which has repeatedly warned Israel’s political leaders about extremism and violence from the racist and xenophobic Ginsburgh and his followers – lashed out at the attack.
“The IDF has a stern stance on acts of this kind against commanders and soldiers working around the clock in cooperation with security forces in order to protect the people of this country," the IDF Spokesperson's Unit reportedly said.
As has frequently been the case, Yitzhar’s spokesman Ezri Tuvi attacked the IDF for daring to criticize the settlement.
"This is a civilian carriage whose tires were punctured – most likely by people who are not Yitzhar residents in protest of the yeshiva's 'occupation.' As a rule, these stupid acts are not accepted by Yitzhar residents, especially at a time when the security forces are working relentlessly to rescue the abducted boys,” Tuvi said.
This is not the first time IDF and security forces equipment has been vandalized in Yitzhar.
In April, the tires of Samaria Brigade Commander Colonel Yoav Yarom's vehicle were slashed during a routine visit to Yitzhar. The tires of Yarom's jeep were also slashed at there three months ago. A week before that incident, the windows of a different senior officer's vehicle were smashed during a visit to the settlement.
Several months ago, Border Police took over and closed Ginsburgh’s Od Yosef Chai Yeshiva after its students rioted and destroyed a Border Police camp.
The yeshiva was allowed to partially reopen last month.
Israel’s internal security agency known as the Shin Bet and the IDF believe most of the dozens of price tag attacks, many of them arson hate crimes against Christian and Muslim sites, have been carried out by Ginsburgh’s students and disciples in a loosely organized, non-linear conspiracy.
Ginsburgh – who is considered by many to be the spiritual heir to the assassinated extremist Rabbi Meir Kahane – is not believed to direct each individual attack, but rather is thought to provide the inspiration and spiritual guidance for them.
Ginsburgh is a notorious racist and extremist who, among other things, publicly praised mass murder Baruch Goldstein after Goldstein murdered 29 Arabs and wounded 125 others who were praying at the Ibrahim Mosque at the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron.
Two of his co-yeshiva heads wrote a notorious racist book, Torat HaMelech, asserting, among other things, that Arab babies in their cribs could be wantonly murdered in a time of war because they will likely grow up to hate Jews. Ginsburgh – who defines Israel’s current state of existence as a time of war – endorsed the book.
While the American-born Ginsburgh has no official role inside the Chabad movement, he is one of the most popular Chabad rabbis in Israel, especially among Anglos, ba’al teshuvas and West Bank settlers.
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