Netanyahu vows expanded operations against West Bank ‘terrorist strongholds

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz vowed at a cabinet meeting on Sunday to expand operations against Palestinian "terrorist strongholds" in the West Bank, after a deadly Friday shootout sparked when settlers illegally entered a Nablus-area village.

Katz took Democrats party chief Yair Golan to task for blaming the gunfight on settler extremists and the government. Other ministers at the meeting called for a harsh response against Palestinians, and for the Israel Defense Forces to give troops greater leeway to open fire, according to leaks carried by Hebrew media.

The weekly cabinet meeting was held in a secure underground location for unspecified security reasons, amid concern of an escalation in the war with Iran, even after the US over the weekend paused its nightly strikes on the Islamic Republic.

Speaking at the start of the meeting, Netanyahu said that during his trip to the US this week he and US President Donald Trump would discuss "all the issues currently on the agenda, including the situation in Iran."

Netanyahu is set to depart Monday and attend the funeral of US Senator Lindsey Graham, who died on July 11.

The hawkish South Carolina Republican was "one of Israel's greatest friends since the state's establishment, and it is fitting that we pay him this honor," Netanyahu said at the cabinet meeting.

Netanyahu also said he spoke over the phone Saturday night with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who promised to act against the International Criminal Court.

The Hague-based court, which issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes in Gaza, "endangers justice around the world and also threatens the right of democratic, sovereign states to exercise their sovereignty," the prime minister charged.

He accused the court of "trying to subordinate [democratic states'] security to the decisions of corrupt bureaucrats in The Hague."

The court's prosecutor Karim Khan, whom ICC members voted to remove Friday after an ex-aide accused him of sexual assault, had issued the warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant "to divert attention, to rally all of Israel's enemies around him, and essentially to create a protective shield for himself," Netanyahu said.

"That shield has now been torn away, exposing both his true motivation and the lack of justice and deep corruption not only in the Prosecutor's Office but throughout the International Criminal Court," he added.

Turning to IDF operations in the West Bank, Netanyahu said that "the instructions we gave were to enter villages, search them, seize weapons, and make arrests."

Israel is "prepared to act more broadly against terrorist strongholds," he added.

Katz said that in addition to ongoing operations, "similar measures are now being considered by identifying where terrorist activity is being organized and where we need to strike in order to disrupt it and prevent it from continuing."

The defense minister also accused Democrats leader Golan of disseminating a "blood libel" against settlers. The former deputy IDF chief had said at his party's campaign launch on Saturday night that Netanyahu and Katz were purposely fomenting chaos in the West Bank ahead of Israel's October 27 election, and that the blood of soldiers who would be killed as a result was on their hands.

"Yesterday, I was troubled, though unsurprised, to hear someone who was once a senior IDF officer and is now one of the leaders of the opposition — perhaps even their candidate for defense minister, judging by the way he speaks — publicly cursing the prime minister and me, and blaming the residents of Judea and Samaria for Palestinian terrorism," Katz said, using a biblical name for the West Bank.

"Saying such things about the settlers," said Katz, "who today help protect all the population centers in Israel, and saying such things about our soldiers, only makes our duty to suppress terrorism even greater."

The shootout in the Palestinian village of Tell on Friday claimed the lives of an IDF soldier and a member of the civil defense squad from the neighboring settlement of Havat Gilad, as well as those of four Palestinians.

Pro-settler politicians blamed the Israelis' deaths on what they described as excessively strict IDF guidelines on opening fire.

In quotes from the cabinet meeting leaked to Hebrew outlets, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir said that following the Friday gunfight, Israel had to "bring back targeted assassinations, change the guidelines on opening fire and let IDF soldiers open fire in incidents like this."

Other ministers reportedly seconded the call, while IDF Brig. Gen. Yogev Bar Sheshet, the deputy defense establishment comptroller, said that "in incidents where there is a mixture of terrorists and civilians," it was difficult for soldiers to tell "who is a terrorist and who is a civilian."

The war with Iran has been draining for all of us in Israel. But when I heard about a high casualty incident – ballistic missile impacts in Arad and Dimona that left nearly 200 people wounded – I drank a cup of coffee, packed a bag, and headed south.

There, I spoke with Shilgit, the head of an after-school program for underprivileged youth. Standing outside her destroyed center, Shilgit said it was a miracle that no children were hurt and spoke about the community coming together in the hours since.

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