The IDF accused right-wing activists of violence against Israeli soldiers near the scene of a recent deadly terrorist attack, a claim a settlement leader has denied.
On Sunday, an IDF spokesperson released a statement accusing activists at the Homesh outpost – established at the site of the demolished Israeli town of Homesh in northern Samaria – of “violence towards the [Israeli] security forces”.
“Earlier this morning (Sunday), hundreds of local Israeli residents arrived at the Homesh outpost,” the spokesperson said. “The residents acted violently towards the security forces, breaching barricades and entering the outpost, aiming to establish illegal structures on site.”
“IDF troops, the Israeli Border Police and the Israel Police attempted to block the residents from entering the location. The residents vandalized military property and blocked the troops’ passage. An IDF soldier was lightly injured after being hit by a resident’s vehicle.”
“The IDF condemns all violence against the security forces, and is determined to maintain the security of civilians and its forces while enforcing the law and preventing any illegal activity.”
But Samaria Regional Council chairman Yossi Dagan pushed back against the claim Sunday evening, calling the IDF statement “manipulative”.
“I’m shocked by the manipulative statement by an IDF spokesperson regarding students from the Homesh Yeshiva. Yehuda’s grave is still fresh after the terror attack he was murdered in, yet the IDF spokesperson is smearing his friends for something they didn’t do.”
Dagan went on to say that video footage from confrontations Sunday morning between soldiers and activists at Homesh showed that the soldiers were not attacked by the activists, and that the only incidents were in fact the reverse.
“The only thing that comes near to violence in the videos is a soldier shoving a civilian.”
“The State of Israel needs to recognize the Homesh Yeshiva, and I call on the IDF spokesperson to stop repeating the worst periods of the IDF press office’s history, with tactics that left it a polarizing force in Israeli society. It is saddening and illegitimate for the IDF spokesperson to be manipulative in order to smear the pioneering settlers.”
Last night, the IDF set up an improvised checkpoint on the way to the Homesh outpost in northern Samaria, days after 25-year-old Yehuda Dimentman was shot and killed by Arab terrorists near Homesh.
"During the last night, forces arrived at the scene and closed the entrance to the settlement. The army also placed new concrete blocs at the site, which completely blocked the axis, and an IDF jeep does not allow Jewish vehicles to reach the settlement," said Shmuel Wendy, the yeshiva dean.
Wendy added, "This is an inconceivable absurdity. It is simply a reward for terrorism. Instead of an appropriate Zionist response, the army wants to evacuate the settlement in response to the murder of Yehuda Dimentman. The people of Israel will not let this happen."
He added that over Shabbat, dozens of yeshiva students stayed at the site, along with dozens of students from other yeshivas who came to strengthen the yeshiva students at Homesh.
In response to the blockade by the army, the students of the Homesh Yeshiva decided to erect makeshift buildings overnight. This morning, the Border Police and the police arrived at Homesh and removed the students from the buildings that had been erected.
The yeshiva emphasizes that the Homesh Yeshiva has existed for over 15 years at the location. It was established about a year and a half after the 2005 Disengagement Plan from Gaza and northern Samaria, and the yeshiva has been operating there ever since.