The IDF on Monday night launched a manhunt for dozens of extremist, violent Jewish Israelis who attacked a West Bank Palestinian village this evening, in parallel to the military's demolition of an illegal Jewish outpost near Efrat.
According to the IDF, “after the evacuation of illegal structures in the Wadi Kanub area…IDF, border police, and regular police forces rushed to the village of Jeba following a report that dozens of Israeli civilians had set fire to and vandalized homes and cars in the area.”
The military added, “Security forces are searching for those involved, and the episode is still developing.”
This last statement was somewhat unusual, given that frequently the IDF says that it arrived at the scene of Jewish violence toward Palestinians in order to end and disrupt that violence, and possibly to arrest a small number of those involved who can easily catch at the scene, but rarely is there a statement of maintaining hot pursuit of the perpetrators afterward.
The army said that "it views all violence of any category gravely and condemns it, as it harms security in the area,” noting that these attacks "divert the attention" of IDF personnel "from defense and counterterrorism missions” against Palestinian terrorists.
Jewish extremist riot in West Bank
On November 11, around 100 Jewish "anarchists" - as IDF Central Command Chief Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth labeled them– attacked a Palestinian village, with the IDF saying on November 12 that only one remained in police custody past 24 hours.
Around 90 of the Jewish attackers, who set fire to Palestinian vehicles and trucks, as well as a factory and agricultural land in Beit Lid, near the Palestinian city of Tulkarm in the northern West Bank, and injured four Palestinians during the November 11 incident, got away scot free from the start.
The IDF and the police initially detained six, but two were sprung by second waves of the violent Jewish extremists who attacked the soldiers who were holding them.
Of the four that were brought to the Judea and Samaria Police Headquarters, three were released within less than a day, and only one was still being held as of Wednesday afternoon.
The IDF responded to the incident after Palestinian media reported the Jewish extremist arson attack on local trucks belonging to a dairy factory near Beit Lid.
They also attacked the factory, agricultural lands, metal sheds, and several tents belonging to Bedouin families.
These latest large-scale attacks on Palestinians follow nearly daily smaller-scale attacks by Jewish extremists on Palestinians in the West Bank, with the IDF putting the number at 85 during this quarter.
In comparison to the similar quarter last year, when there were "only" 25 such incidents, this is a major jump.
While the IDF says it is doing its best to hold back the wave of Jewish violence against Palestinians, which is still much lower in volume than the number of full-fledged attempted Palestinian terror attacks against Israelis, IDF sources say they need more tools to put down the wave.
If the IDF arrests more of the Jewish attackers after Monday's incident, it would be a sign of new and more serious tactics. If it fails to arrest more of the attackers, it would be a sign that little has changed in the approach to stopping this wave of mass Jewish attacks on Palestinians.