Security forces today (Friday) detained three leftist provocateurs who had approached the Jewish community of Mitzpeh Yair, in the southern Mount Hevron area.
One of the detainees is Avner Gevaryahu, who heads Breaking the Silence, an organization that specializes in publishing anonymous testimony purportedly given by IDF soldiers, regarding their own misdeeds.
The two other detainees are Breaking the Silence's communications director, Achiya Shatz, and ultra-leftist attorney Michael Sfard, who was detained earlier and released.
Meretz MK Mossi Raz was angered by the detainments. "The IDF's soldiers receive their orders from the settlers – who are criminal trespassers who invaded the place illegally," he claimed. "The settlers' involvement is clearly seen in the behavior of the IDF, which arrested the human rights activists, just because they had arrived at the settlement."
"The IDF cannot comport itself based on the requests of the settlers," warned Raz. "The Azarya case teaches us that there are grave consequences to the overlap between settlers and soldiers."
Raz was referencing the case of Sergeant Elor Azarya, who was convicted of manslaughter for shooting and killing a wounded Arab terrorist in Hevron, in 2016.
Former Meretz MK Zehava Galon said it was "unbelievable" that "the same IDF that did not arrest people who beat up [leftist organization] Ta'ayush activists in front of the eyes of the soldiers, was so quick to block a visit to the region by Breaking the Silence, at the settlers' behest."
The New Israel Fund also protested the detainments. The leftist activists' visit was carried out "in solidarity with human rights activists from the Ta'ayush organization who were violently attacked last Saturday by marauders who came from the Mitzpeh Yair outpost," said the NIF.
"The outpost was declared a closed military zone, but none of the violent marauders was arrested," claimed the leftist fund, which supports Breaking the Silence. "We demand that an immediate investigation be opened regarding the ongoing violence against human rights activists in the area."