Netanyahu condemns West Bank attacks by settlers

**Charlotte Gallagher** (0:00)
This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Charlotte Gallagher, and in the early hours of Sunday, the 30th of August, these are our main stories, a rare criticism of some Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank from the Israeli government.

**Doran Spielman** (0:17)
Their actions violate the law, they endanger both Jews and Arabs, and they interfere with the Israel Defense Forces as they carry out vital security missions, and of course, they harm Israel's international legitimacy.

**Charlotte Gallagher** (0:30)
We're in Ukraine after 37 civilians were killed in a Russian drone strike on an arms depot.

**Dan Johnson** (0:37)
Who do you hold responsible for this?

**Charlotte Gallagher** (0:40)
Who? Russia, their government, the people, Russians themselves.
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**Lars Bavanger** (0:54)
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**Charlotte Gallagher** (1:04)
As the new king begins his reign, we assess the popularity of Norway's royal family. We begin the podcast in the occupied West Bank.
That's from a video recorded by a Palestinian man of a crowd throwing stones at them. You can hear him say in Arabic that settlers have surrounded their home. Dozens of settlers attacked two Palestinian villages, including Kusra, where they've also been stopping supplies from reaching some villages for weeks. Lui Beirutti said his family was under siege by the settlers and the Israeli army.

**Lui Beirutti** (1:51)
The settlers attacked us and we were trapped inside my house. There were more than 70 people hurling stones at us.
The army fired tear gas, so we climbed on the roof, where the group continued throwing stones.
We called the police, but they never arrived. The army didn't stop the settlers. They instead detained us with handcuffs and blindfolds, as if we were the terrorists. Then they kept us in a military vehicle for 40 minutes and beat anyone who spoke out.

**Charlotte Gallagher** (2:28)
The ferocity of Saturday's attacks prompted rare condemnation from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Doran Spielman is his spokesman.

**Doran Spielman** (2:36)
These acts were committed by a small group of riders. They do not represent the law-abiding Jewish community in Judea and Samaria. On the contrary, they caused that community a grave injustice. Their actions violate the law. They endanger both Jews and Arabs. And they interfere with the Israel Defense Forces as they carry out vital security missions. And of course, they harm Israel's international legitimacy.

**Charlotte Gallagher** (3:01)
Our correspondent in Jerusalem, Katie Watson, told me more about the latest violence.

**Katie Watson** (3:06)
There were two particular areas that kind of came under scrutiny. The village of Kusra, and that has been in the spotlight in the last month. But what we saw earlier today were dozens of settlers that were attacking the village of Kusra. I spoke to a resident there, Louis Riddy, an American Palestinian, who earlier this month actually kind of made headlines. He flew back from the US to protect his house. And he was telling me that this incident happened close to his house. He reckoned around 40 settlers had started throwing rocks.
He did alert the Israel Defense Force, who dispatched vehicles and tear gas. And the IDF has said that they were dispatched after there were violent clashes that had occurred. And security forces also identified rioters, some who'd barricaded themselves inside a Palestinian home while some residents were inside. But there was also a separate incident in the town of Jalud, where there were some foreign journalists who were injured after some masked settlers attacked them as well.

**Charlotte Gallagher** (4:10)
And what's really rare about this is that there has been condemnation of the settlers by the Prime Minister of Israel.

**Katie Watson** (4:18)
Yeah, that's right. So the Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said that he has strongly condemned these acts. He, it was a handful of rioters, he said, were violating the law, causing a grave injustice to law-abiding Jewish community. That was also followed by President Herzog, who said that he condemned these incidents that were in complete violation of the laws and values of the state of Israel. So, you know, all settlements are illegal under international law.
These outposts, they're also illegal under Israeli law, but quite often they're also supported by state services and funding. And kind of this condemnation certainly is not something that we see all the time.

**Charlotte Gallagher** (5:06)
Do you think it's international pressure as well, given that the US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, had even been critical of these settlers who's been very supportive of Israel? Do you think Mr. Netanyahu is worried about how the international community is viewing Israel?