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Former Israeli minister warns of violence by 'godless' settlers

In an interview with Al-Monitor, Labor Knesset member Binyamin Ben-Eliezer calls for labeling some violent settler groups as terrorists.
Jewish settlers scuffle with Israeli border police attempting to remove the Jewish outpost of Mitzpeh Yitzhar in the West Bank May 17, 2004. Israeli troops clashed on Monday with hundreds of Jewish settlers trying to prevent the dismantling of an unauthorised settlement outpost in the West Bank. - RTXMM3O
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“I have been following these guys for months, the settlers from Yitzhar, and at a certain point I thought they could hurt Bibi [Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu], too, if he makes a crucial decision. After all, they’re godless.” So says presidential candidate and Knesset member Binyamin Ben-Eliezer in an interview with Al-Monitor, in reaction to the growing violence and hate crimes in recent days on the part of settlers and right-wing extremists.

The Jewish violence in Arab communities, dubbed “price tag” by the right wing, as well as the equanimity with which a resident of the settlement of Yitzhar said she had no problem with killing an Israeli soldier, take Ben-Eliezer back to the month prior to the 1995 Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin assassination, when he understood that right-wing incitement was spiraling out of control and tried to warn that someone would pay with their life. Ben-Eliezer, formerly minister of defense and chairman of the Labor Party, claims Israeli society is in a true state of emergency. He says determined action can still stop the snowball but believes that someone in the Israeli leadership has stalled dealing with this phenomenon.

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