Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir warns of rising settler violence in the West Bank, stressing its impact on security and operations, while National Security Minister Ben-Gvir calls for stronger retaliation.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir clashed over the handling of nationalist crime in the West Bank during a Thursday night security cabinet meeting, according to participants in the discussion.
At the center of the confrontation were remarks by Zamir, who presented ministers with what participants described as an alarming picture of rising violence and its direct effect on security and stability.
“There is a major rise in nationalist crime,” Zamir told ministers, according to participants. “Stones were thrown at Arabs, and an IDF soldier was also hurt by a stone thrown at him.”
Ben-Gvir responded that anyone who attacks soldiers must be dealt with decisively. At the same time, he directed criticism at the military’s conduct on the ground and at what he suggested was an overly broad enforcement approach.
Ben-Gvir said during the discussion, “Anyone who throws stones at soldiers should be crushed. The IDF is all of us. My son is in Lebanon right now. But we also have to admit that the regional commander is acting like a bull in a china shop. The prime minister decided that only outposts involving violence should be evacuated, so why is the commander evacuating an outpost of Daniella Weiss, who only blesses soldiers and loves them?”
The policy understanding referenced by Ben-Gvir reflected a broader dispute over where evacuations should take place and in which cases.
The remarks shifted the discussion beyond harm to Palestinians or the diplomatic fallout of such incidents, and toward the immediate operational price for the military. From the security establishment’s perspective, the phenomenon is placing an increasing burden on forces in the field at a particularly sensitive time, as the IDF is required to concentrate efforts across several fronts at once.
The IDF, however, has warned that the issue cannot be measured only by whether an incident is isolated or by the identity of a specific outpost, but by the cumulative effect on security, on troops’ freedom of operation, and on overall stability in the sector.
The exchange highlighted the widening gap between ministers and the military over how to define and confront nationalist violence in the West Bank.
A broader disagreement over enforcement in West Bank
Zamir’s comments on Thursday night were in line with the tougher and more consistent message he has delivered in recent days on nationalist crime. In his earlier warning, he said such acts were morally wrong, strategically damaging, and harmful not only to security and the IDF, but also to the settlement enterprise itself.
Still, the cabinet debate showed that behind the broad agreement on the need to combat violence lies a deeper disagreement over where to draw the line between necessary security enforcement and what some ministers view as an overly aggressive policy.
The argument has increasingly centered on illegal outposts, their role in attacks, and the state’s willingness to dismantle them, a debate that has also surfaced in previous reporting on evacuation orders and growing concern over Jewish extremist violence in the West Bank.
The immediate dispute in the cabinet was not only about public messaging, but about whether the state sees nationalist crime as a marginal law enforcement problem or as an escalating security threat that is directly affecting soldiers in the field.