Palestinians burn swastika inside Jewish star in Samaria

Samarian Regional Council head Yossi Dagan noted the strategic importance of Evyatar and promised to “establish a yeshiva and a settlement at the site.”

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

Palestinians from the Samarian town of Beita set aflame a huge Star of David with a swastika inside Saturday night during their regular riots at the site of the disputed young settlement of Evyatar near the Tapuah Junction.

In video clips posted on social media, the well-constructed anti-Semitic symbol can be seen burning, with a crowd of children and adults holding torches and yelling in unison, “Allahu akbar [God is great].”  They also threw stones at security forces, set off firecrackers and at least one improvised explosive device Palestinian sources called a ‘sound barrel.’

Samarian Regional Council head Yossi Dagan took the long view of the disturbing incident.

“The continued barbarian riots of the terrorists from Beita, and the intensity of violent resistance funded by the Palestinian Authority proves how strategic a location Evyatar is, and how important it is to settle there,” said Dagan, noting that the battle over the outpost was not over yet. “We, the nation of Israel, will build Evyatar and establish a yeshiva and a settlement at the site,” he said.

The nascent village was first set up in 2013 in reaction to a terrorist murder of Evyatar Borovsky near the junction, and was regenerated in May after 19-year-old Yehuda Guetta was killed there by a Palestinian in a drive-by shooting. Some fifty families quickly moved to the site, earning the ire of the nearby village of Beita.

The Palestinian residents claim the land as their private property and began “night harassments” that included shining laser lights into the Jewish homes and burning hundreds of tires at a time in a form of “chemical terrorism,” as Religious Zionist Party (RZP) head Bezalel Smotrich called it in June. On Fridays they would ramp it up, with hundreds throwing rocks and explosives at IDF troops in the area, who responded with riot-dispersal methods that have left seven Palestinians dead.

The government struck a deal with the Evyatar residents in July. They left the hilltop but their temporary dwellings remained intact and the army made it into a temporary base until the land would be properly surveyed and classified. The Samarian Regional Council says it is state land and it is perfectly legal to build there, either as a new settlement or as a new neighborhood of nearby Kfar Tapuah.

The Arabs have continued rioting near the site on a weekly basis.

RZP MK Itamar Ben-Gvir blasted the government’s inaction upon hearing the news of the symbol burned on Saturday.

“This video clip filmed in the terrorist village of Beita, a 40-minute drive from Tel Aviv…should worry every citizen to whom the State of Israel is important,” he said. “Until now there has been zero action and reaction by the Israeli government. That’s how it is when you’re being blackmailed by terror supporters, you swallow this as well. [Prime Minister] Naftali [Bennett]…your silence in the face of this thing legitimizes terrorism.”

Arab riotsEvyatarJudea and SamariaSettlementsSwastika