A Palestinian examines a torched vehicle, seen the morning after a rampage by Israeli settlers in the West Bank village of Git, last Friday.Credit: Nasser Nasser / AP

Israel’s leading news site for the religious Zionist public, Srugim, published on Friday an article expressing explicit support for Jewish terrorist acts committed by Israeli youths.

The article, titled “Jit and Rafah Share the Same Fate” was written by Uri Kirshenbaum, the Deputy Director of the right-wing Honenu nonprofit, a Zionist legal aid organization which was previously represented by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir when the latter practiced as an attorney.

The article referred to an attack by settlers in the northern West Bank village of Jit last Thursday, during which 23-year-old Palestinian Rashid Sadah was shot and killed. In it, Kirshenbaum claimed that Jewish residents of settlements like Yizhar and the Havat Gilad outpost are “forced” to replace the army, which is “acting foolishly.”

“A generation has grown up here that sees how the IDF is defending Fatah with great dedication, in statements about operations in Jenin,” he wrote. “It is a generation that understands – to our great regret – that its fate is in its own hands, that no one is truly concerned about its security.”

According to Kirshenbaum, members of this generation are “taking care of their own security, understanding the methods needed to deter the enemy and most importantly – realizing that what they will not do themselves will simply not happen.”

Kirshenbaum claims that Israel’s clear strategy concerning the Gaza Strip is the deliberate killing of innocent Palestinians, and that this approach should also be applied to the West Bank.

“The IDF struck buildings and high-rises in Gaza almost indiscriminately for a certain period, fully aware that many children and mothers would be killed,” he wrote. “A necessary defense strategy led Israel to pound the ’innocent’ Gazans because there is no other way to defeat and eradicate Hamas.”

“It is deliberate, it is strategic and it is appropriate. Let no one pretend otherwise. Would someone please explain to me: why is it that what’s right in Gaza is not right in Jenin, Tulkarm, Hebron and Nablus”?

Photo: Four houses and six cars were burned down in Jit by Jewish settlers.Credit: Git village council

Kirshenbaum criticized condemnations issued by Israeli officials following the attack in Jit and Sadah’s death, including denunciations by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and the head of the Shomron Regional Council Yossi Dagan.

“The expected chain of condemnations included endless repetitions of the claim [that the attack] ’harmed the settlement movement,’” Kirshenbaum said. “But know this, dear politicians – you do not interest this youth, and rightly so. You are insignificant. A page in a history book that will no longer be read in a few years.”

Kirshenbaum threatened those who condemned the attack, saying that they would pay a political price. “You should consider your words carefully when you go after our youth on Twitter and television,” he wrote.

“Because in a few years, you will return to curry favor with these youngsters who have since grown up, just so you might gain a few votes in a party primary or a regional council election, or when you would want to secure a budget from a ’hilltop youth’ who has since been elected to a senior position. They might not be thrilled to meet you,” he continued.

On the day the article was published by Srugim on Friday, Kirshenbaum took to X, posting a video from last year of Smotrich saying “the village of Hawara needs to be wiped out.”

Kirshenbaum commented by saying, “What has your government done to wipe out Hawara? And Jit? It’s possible that it would have saved us a lot of trouble.”

On Sunday, Kirshenbaum called to “wipe out the State Prosecutor’s Office” in response to a report by Israeli public broadcaster Kan 11, according to which State Prosecutor Amit Isman recommended opening a criminal investigation against singer Eyal Golan on suspicion of incitement to violence against Gaza Strip residents.

Kirshenbaum is also promoting a crowdfunding campaign for Amiram Ben-Uliel, who was convicted of three counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder in the 2015 killing of the Dawabsheh family in their home in the West Bank town of Duma.

The campaign compares Ben-Uliel to Roman Zadorov, who was acquitted of the murder of 13-year-old Tair Rada, and uses the slogan “Amiram Ben-Uliel – the next Roman Zadorov.”

The Srugim website was launched in 2010 for a religious Zionist readership as part of the Kikar HaShabbat group. On October 12, the site published an article by Professor Yoel Elitzur – one of the founders of the ultranationalist settler movement of Gush Emunim – claiming that the massacre committed by Hamas on October 7 was part of God’s divine plan regarding Israelis who “bring disasters upon the people of Israel and prevent the divine plan.”

A day later, the article was retracted at Elitzur’s request. Srugim’s editor-in-chief Arye Yoeli, however, told Haaretz at the time that he found the article “acceptable”.

The Srugim website has refused to comment on this story.

Ido David Cohen