Tel Aviv, Nov 23, (dpa/GNA) – Suspected Jewish extremists. harassed the head of the Israeli Central Command in Hebron in the West Bank on Friday evening, blocking his way and shouting derogatory remarks, the Israeli military reported.
The group trailed Major General Avi Bluth, who commands the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Central Command, the IDF said in a post on Telegram. Participants called Bluth a “traitor,” The Times of Israel newspaper reported.
The Israeli police detained five suspects, and the group was dispersed shortly thereafter. The IDF said it “strongly condemns” violence of any kind against its personnel, and takes such incidences with “utmost severity.”
Tens of thousands of people had gathered for an annual pilgrimage to Hebron. Jewish extremists have traditionally had a tense relationship with the military, and there are recurring clashes between soldiers and settlers in the West Bank.
Since the massacre by the Palestinian Islamist Hamas over a year ago, and the outbreak of the Gaza War, violence by radical settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank has increased, according to media reports. When assuming control of the Central Command in June, Bluth said he would not turn a blind eye to it.
His predecessor had already complained that some settlers were “adopting the ways of the enemy” and that the leaders of the settler movement did not condemn violence.