Friday, December 16, 2011

Settler Attack on Army Base: Crossing a Red Line? | Al Akhbar English

Settler Attack on Army Base: Crossing a Red Line? | Al Akhbar English

Quote:

"The ministerial team set up by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which included the ministers of justice and internal security, recommended designating one of the far-right groups, the Youth of the Hills, as a terrorist organization – while stressing that the attackers were only a small group and do not represent West Bank settlers as a whole.

Among the most striking was Defense Minister Ehud Barak’s assertion that such groups must be accorded the same treatment as terrorist organizations as they behave in the same manner.

The leader of the opposition and the Kadima Party, Tzipi Livni, sought to use the incident to score points against the government. “Settler violence against an IDF base is another level of extremism coming over Israel with her agreement, with silence and a wink from the Netanyahu government, directly or indirectly," Livni said. She added that the government had prepared “fertile ground for growing savagery” by agreeing with proposed extremist legislation and keeping silent about the behavior of fanatical rabbis, and demanded that it act urgently to halt such actions."