(Adnkronos) – Israeli far-right MP Zvi Sukkot attempted to destroy a memorial dedicated to the memory of Palestinian “martyrs” in a village in the West Bank, claiming they were “terrorists”. The incident was condemned by the Israeli army and political class. “A few days ago, I asked the army to intervene to remove monuments commemorating terrorists responsible for attacks against Israelis in the villages of Madama and Burin. Unfortunately, they remained in place. That’s why I went to the site myself and took steps to remove them,” Sukkot explains in a video showing him attempting to destroy the memorial with a hammer.
The Israeli army, which accompanied the MP during this visit to Palestinian villages in the northern West Bank, denounced “the deceptive and manipulative way” in which Sukkot used the military’s presence. “IDF soldiers assigned to operational missions in the area were diverted from their duties to carry out this activity and exposed to unnecessary risks, while the IDF operates under strong pressure,” the Israeli army emphasized in a statement. Israeli Foreign Minister Gidéon Saar stated on X that “MP Sukkot, like all MPs, is not the sovereign authority” in the West Bank. Former minister and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s main rival ahead of the next elections, Gadi Eizenkot, reacted on X by accusing Netanyahu, “who allows anarchists like Zvi Sukkot and their ilk to do whatever they want, jeopardizing the security of Israeli communities and damaging Israel’s position in the world.”
Rami Nassar, head of the Madama village council, told AFP that “the monument bears the names of the village’s martyrs who fell in the Battle of Karameh” in 1968, during the first and second Intifadas “up to the present day,” calling the Israeli MP’s act an “act of terrorism.” Nassar stated that the memorial included, among others, the name of “a village farmer killed while working his land, without any clashes taking place.” In his video, Sukkot claimed that among the names listed on the memorial was Yamen Faredj, a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), wanted for his involvement in attacks in Israel during the second Intifada and killed in 2004 in Nablus by the Israeli army.
