The IDF accompanied far-right MK Zvi Sukkot on his tour of Palestinian towns in the West Bank on Tuesday, where the lawmaker smashed a monument to slain Palestinian “martyrs,” only after he threatened to go by himself if the military did not escort him, Army Radio reported Wednesday.
The Religious Zionism MK was filmed on Tuesday smashing a monument to slain Palestinians, many of them terrorists, with a sledgehammer in the West Bank village of Madama, as soldiers stood by. The incident was widely condemned, drawing denunciations from the army and politicians across the spectrum.
According to the Army Radio report, Sukkot first contacted the IDF several weeks ago about arranging a “tour” of Madama and several other towns with similar monuments. But the report said the IDF initially refused his request, citing lack of manpower amid an ongoing settler siege of Palestinian homes in the nearby town of Qusra.
Sukkot then threatened to go ahead with his visit to the Palestinian villages without an army escort, accompanied by just his Knesset guard detail, the report said. Fearing that such a trip would put him in danger, the IDF relented and said it would schedule an IDF escort for Sukkot once tensions in the area calmed down.
