IDF mulls evicting price-tag attackers from W. Bank

Defense officials critical of Israel legal system that has only prosecuted small number of "price-tag" vandals.

By YAAKOV KATZ
Workers clean price tag from Muslim cemetary, J'lem_311 (photo credit: Reuters)
Workers clean price tag from Muslim cemetary, J'lem_311
(photo credit: Reuters)
The defense establishment will consider issuing new eviction orders from the West Bank against far-right activists suspected of participating in so-called “price-tag” attacks against IDF soldiers and Palestinians.
In September, OC Central Command Maj.-Gen. Avi Mizrachi issued orders against 13 settlers banning them from entering the West Bank. Such orders are issued when the IDF and Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) obtain intelligence information regarding a suspect but the information is not enough to press charges in court.
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Defense officials were critical Tuesday of the legal system in Israel that has until now only prosecuted a small number of those involved in so-called “price tag” attacks against IDF soldiers and Palestinians.
On Tuesday, for example, the IDF failed to arrest even a single attacker involved in the infiltration and vandalizing of the Efriam Regional Brigade base near Kedumim.
IDF officers have held talks recently with judges from courts throughout the country in an effort to explain the difficulty in collecting evidence that can be used against the perpetrators and how the light punishments, which those arrested received, was not deterring future attacks.
Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz visited the base on Tuesday afternoon and surveyed the damage. He told officers there that he was deeply
“This is unacceptable and is a dangerous reality when the army which is supposed to defend the people is defending itself from the people,” Gantz said Tuesday night. “We need to enforce the law and prosecute the perpetrators and I am confident that the state will know how to do that.”