Less than a week has passed since the murder of Elisha Antman, Nachman Shmuel Mordoff, Harel Masoud, and Ofer Fairman in a brutal terror attack near Eli.
The murder was one of the most severe incidents in a string of terror attacks in recent months in Judea and Samaria. The incident led to violent civilian protests in PA-controlled villages.
A security source on Monday was quoted saying: "The scope of the phenomenon is growing. If in the past there were only a few dozen rioters, now there's an atmosphere of one pogrom after the next. A hunt - one village after the next."
Samaria Regional Council Chief Yossi Dagan was infuriated by the remarks and replied: "There is no 'pogrom atmosphere' in Judea and Samaria, it is an abhorrent lie. There is an extremist minority that needs to be dealt with, an exception to the rule that is made to reflect badly on the general public."
"There are over half a million Israeli citizens living in Judea and Samaria. Everyone knows that they are the most normative citizens and contribute greatly to [Israeli] society. Even according to police data, the lowest per-resident crime rates are in the Samaria and Judea District. Everyone knows that those who participated in these severe incidents are troubled teens who don't even live in Judea and Samaria, and even those who are Judea and Samaria residents are a small minority, most of whom are youth-at-risk. This cynical attempt to tie this unacceptable phenomenon to include and defame half a million Israeli citizens in Judea and Samaria is fraudulent and disgusting and, most of all, reeks of politics. Every fair person must dismiss it.
"The 'pogrom atmosphere' is in the Palestinian Authority, where there are red signs at the entrance to its roads that read 'Entry to Israeli citizens is dangerous.' A pogrom atmosphere is in Shechem (Nablus), where a German tourist with an Israeli flag sticker on his windshield or an Israeli who got lost enters the city, and thousands attempt to lynch them. That's a pogrom atmosphere."
"Not half a million Judea and Samaria citizens, citizens who are good and helpful to society no less, and even more, than the rest of the population. The residents of Judea and Samaria will continue to build the land of Israel. The settlement leadership will continue to act with all its might, more than any other population or area in Israel, to root out negative elements. It is especially unfortunate that during these hard times, when our blood is being spilled in terror attacks, political authorities, and even authorities from other establishments, are busy with political and cynical generalizations and de-legitimization attempts. It harms and hurts sevenfold when it is done at a time of murderous terrorism and the daily threat that faces us."