Moshe Yaalon
Moshe YaalonFlash 90

Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon blamed Jews for Arab terror attacks in a meeting with leaders of Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria Tuesday, according to a source who was one of the participants in the meeting, which was hosted by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu at his residence.

"Ya'alon argued in the meeting that there is a connection between violent events by settlers and terror attacks," the participant told Arutz Sheva. The defense minister also said that "There are gangs on both sides," a sentence that caused the community leaders to erupt in anger.

"The man has gone mad," the participant said. "At a certain point Ya'alon began to stutter and he understood that he had gone too far in his analysis – how can a defense minister view a legitimate protest as if it were unacceptable? He was told explicitly that we denounce all violence, especially against IDF soldiers."

The source claimed that Ya'alon's aide is "poisoning" his mind against the residents of Judea and Samaria. "He does not understand what democracy is. He is making a big mistake, not just politically but security-wise."

"We emerged disappointed," the source said. "We find it hard to believe that a defense minister blames Jews for terror attacks instead of fighting terror seriously. I don't believe the technological promises with which the prime minister is promising to fight terror. London is also full of cameras, is that helping it?"

The source said that Netanyahu told the local government leaders that he does not intend to build in Judea and Samaria, because the United States objects strenuously to this and Israel must not get into a confrontation with it.