Leftist anarchists (illustrative)
Leftist anarchists (illustrative)Israel news photo: Flash 90

Yossi Dagan, Deputy Chairman of the Samaria Regional Council, on Monday slammed authorities in Judea and Samaria for their for failing to prevent leftist and anarchist activists from inciting Arabs to attack Israelis. Dagan termed the apparent inability or refusal to halt the incitement “a failure of enforcement.”

Speaking to Arutz Sheva, Dagan said that he had personally observed numerous incidents of incitement by leftists or Arabs. “This is a problem particularly in the area of Yitzhar,” he said. “These leftists come from Israel and abroad and rile up the Arabs, who then riot and attack.”

Usually, he said, rioters do not attempt to enter Jewish towns, but once in a while they do. The leftists' modus operandi, said Dagan, is to start a riot and attempt to get the Arabs to attack Jews, whom they know will respond, especially in places like Yitzhar. “They do this to get footage of the riots and the response by Israeli residents, and they send out the footage to the world.”

Unfortunately, he said, “the authorities do absolutely nothing to stop this. One of these incidents is likely to get out of hand and lead to injuries or worse,” said Dagan. “These are regular events, that take place at set times,” he said. “In the Yitzhar area the rioters always leave the village of Ourif, and take the same route towards Yitzhar.” Thus, he said, authorities could easily clamp down on the riots and incitement, if they wanted to. “But they allow it to go on,” Dagan said.

“Security officials must place the issue at the top of their agendas and put an end to these nearly daily riots, before someone gets hurt badly,” he added.