LONDON: Top Israeli officials and public figures have threatened the government with legal action over its support for “Jewish terrorism” and an “ideology of ethnic cleansing,” The Guardian reported on Wednesday.
It came in a leaked letter — seen by The Guardian — signed by two former prime ministers, former security chiefs and judges, a Nobel laureate and Israel’s most famous living novelist.
They delivered a “final warning” to the government over violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, demanding immediate action to “eradicate Jewish terrorism,” citing years of murder, rape, theft, arson and desecration of the dead.
The attacks are carried out by civilian and military perpetrators who act with “almost complete impunity,” the letter said.
“This letter is a wake-up call and a final warning: We demand that you take all necessary measures to immediately eradicate Jewish terrorism that has been prevalent in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) in recent years.”
Its signatories warned that Jewish violence against Palestinians is putting Israel’s security at risk and isolating the country internationally.
Antisemitism is also rising worldwide as a result of actions taken by the government, said the letter, which has not been made public.
It was sent to the prime minister’s office, the ministries of defense and national security, the military, police and intelligence services.
However, the sense of crisis among the signatories and wider factions of Israel’s elite has yet to be reflected within the broader public debate in the country. Unofficial campaigning is beginning for elections set for the end of October.
Sanctioned Israeli attacks on Palestinians are driving a backlash against Jews, the letter said. “This is not solely a military and police failure, but the implementation of an overt policy by the Israeli government and its prime minister in general, and by the relevant ministers in particular,” it added.
“(They) order the military, the police, and Shin Bet (the internal security agency) to enable the terrorism of Jewish criminals, because this horrendous phenomenon serves well the current government’s ideology of carrying out ‘ethnic cleansing’ in the territories of Judea and Samaria to facilitate their future annexation.”
The letter said: “The crimes of Jewish terrorism in the territories are reminiscent of similar crimes and pogroms committed against our people by other nations in eastern Europe in the 19th and 20th centuries.”
Israeli soldiers and settlers have killed at least 1,100 Palestinian civilians in the West Bank since 2020. At least a quarter of the dead were children, according to UN data.
The killing of Palestinians endangers Israeli security because it risks inciting Palestinian revenge attacks or an uprising, the letter said.
Ehud Olmert and Ehud Barak, two former prime ministers, signed the letter, along with four former ministers and more than 30 former security commanders.
It was also signed by novelist David Grossman, Nobel chemistry laureate David Kornberg, an Oscar winner and 10 Israel Prize winners.
A former attorney general, judges and senior legal advisers to the government signed the letter, as did prominent figures from academia.
Agencies