Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth, the commander of Central Command, warned about violence by Jewish extremists in Judea and Samaria that, in his words, could set the entire region ablaze.
In a recording aired by Channel 12 News from the conference “For Settlement - Against Violence," Bluth was heard saying: “We need to call a child by its name. When a Jewish person decides to burn a house with its occupants inside, a vehicle with its occupants inside, or beat someone in the head with a club until they lose consciousness - that is called terrorism. These are illegal actions, immoral actions, and also un-Jewish actions."
He added: “When a reserve company commander tells me, ‘I spend dozens of percent of my time running to villages to remove violent activity or prevent friction,’ it is clear that this diverts the IDF’s attention. We are canceling arrests or weapons searches in order to deal with this."
According to Bluth, the issue also has another dimension. “These incidents blacken the name of the State of Israel. They harm the legitimacy efforts of IDF soldiers in all arenas. If you are fighting on seven fronts, especially today when it is shoulder to shoulder with the United States - why would you need damage to your legitimacy?"
He warned: “We are one step away from a major disaster. It could come from either side. Whether we fail to arrive to evacuate the Arab family whose house was burned, or from the other side - if tomorrow those youths who came to burn a house, regardless of what we think about them, encounter terrorists who murder them or abduct their bodies, it could ignite the entire Central Command sector."