Defense Minister Ehud Barak ordered his ministry’s legal adviser to look into
the possibility of passing emergency legislation that will prevent right-wing
extremists from harassing and protesting outside the home of OC Judea and
Samaria Division Brig.- Gen. Nitzan Alon.
Barak ordered Achaz Ben-Ari to
discuss the issue with Attorney- General Yehuda Weinstein in an effort to put an
end to the ongoing protests against Alon and his family.
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Right-wing activists attack West Bank division commander Alon, a former
commander of the IDF’s General Staff Reconnaissance Unit known as Sayeret
Matkal, has come under fire in recent months by Jewish radical right-wing
activists who accuse him of holding left-wing political opinions that have
affected his conduct as the senior field commander in the West Bank.
In
June, right-wing extremists attacked Alon’s military jeep as he was passing
through a junction in the West Bank, beating and kicking it.
The
activists say Alon was negatively influenced by his wife, who used to volunteer
with Machsom Watch, an organization that monitors IDF conduct at checkpoints in
Judea and Samaria.
“We will not allow extremists to attack IDF officers,”
Barak said on Thursday. “These officers and commanders protect residents of
Judea and Samaria and all of Israel’s citizens and allow them to lead a normal
life, and it is our job to protect them in return.”
Attacks against
government employees has been on the rise recently with extremists also singling
out Deputy State Attorney Shai Nitzan for ordering the arrest and interrogation
of Rabbis Dov Lior and Ya’acov Yosef as part of an investigation over their
endorsement of a Jewish religious book that allegedly incites
violence.
There are a number of explanations for the attacks against
Alon. Some activists have accused him of instituting restrictions on the entry
of Jews to pray at Joseph’s Tomb in Nablus. He has also been accused of raising
the possibility after the murder of the Fogel family in Itamar earlier this year
that the attack was a response to a previous settler attack against
Palestinians.
In June, Alon again came under fire after he distributed a
document to commanders in the division ordering them to identify soldiers within
their units who might leak information to settlers of impending demolitions of
settlements and illegal outposts.