Dozens of Israel’s most senior former political, military, intelligence, legal and cultural figures have threatened to take Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to court unless it acts to “eradicate Jewish terrorism” in the occupied West Bank, warning that settler and military violence against Palestinians is being enabled to advance an “ethnic cleansing” agenda and future annexation.
In an extraordinary “final warning” to the Israeli government and security establishment, the signatories accused Israeli officials of allowing Jewish extremists to carry out murder, sexual assault, theft, arson and desecration of the dead with “almost complete impunity”. They warned that the campaign of violence breaks Israeli and international law, threatens Israel’s security, deepens its global isolation and fuels anti-Semitism worldwide.
“This letter is a wake-up call and a final warning: We demand that you take all necessary measures to immediately eradicate Jewish terrorism that has been prevalent in Judea and Samaria in recent years,” the letter said, using an Israeli term for the occupied West Bank.
The letter, which has not been made public but was seen by The Guardian, was sent to Netanyahu’s office, the ministries of defence and national security, the military, police and intelligence services. Its signatories include two former prime ministers, Ehud Olmert and Ehud Barak, former heads of Israel’s security services, former military chiefs of staff, former judges, senior legal advisers, rabbis, former ambassadors, Nobel chemistry laureate David Kornberg, novelist David Grossman and 10 Israel Prize winners.
