Samaria leader ‘shocked’ by ‘dishonest’ IDF statement about settlers

“The grave of Judah, the victim of the attack, is still fresh, and the IDF spokesman denounces his comrades for no wrong done on their part.”

By Gil Tanenbaum, TPS

The head of the Shomron Regional Council (Samaria), Yossi Dagan, has issued a public statement condemning what he described as a “dishonest” announcement made by the IDF Spokesman regarding settlers who went to the Homesh outpost Sunday morning.

The IDF said that they did so in an effort to try and illegally build new structures on the site.

The move by the settlers came in response to the murder of yeshiva student Yehuda Dimentman last Thursday night by Arab terrorists. Dimentman died after being shot in the neck and two other people were wounded. He left behind a widow and a nine-month old baby boy. People are calling for the legalization of the settlement and its yeshiva in response to the attack.

TPS reported earlier that the IDF spokesman’s office claimed the protesters engaged in acts of violence, vandalized military property and blocked the passage of security forces at whom they hurled verbal abuse. In addition, the spokesman saud, an IDF fighter was slightly injured as a result of being hit by one of the protestors.

But Yossi Dagan has denied these allegations.

“I am shocked by the newly manipulative IDF Spokesman’s announcement regarding the students of Yeshivat Homesh,” he said. “The grave of Judah, the victim of the attack, is still fresh, and the IDF spokesman denounces his comrades for no wrong done on their part.”

Dagan said that the videos of Sunday’s incident circulated by an IDF spokesman show that there was no settler violence. He said that, on the contrary, the only violence seen in the videos is that of a soldier pushing a civilian.

“It is unfortunate and illegitimate that an IDF spokesman produces manipulations to blacken the pioneering settlers,” he said. “I condemn the IDF Spokesman’s indecent conduct, which harms the army first and foremost.”

Dagan went on to call on the government of Israel to legitimize the Yeshiva of Homesh, which is not currently recognized as a legal structure under Israeli law.