Lieutenant-colonel's car vandalised

Fifth Amona-related attack on a police officer's vehicle since evacuation.

By YIGAL GRAYEFF
An IDF lieutenant-colonel who took part in the disengagement from Gaza, has become the latest victim of what appears to be revenge attacks on those involved in the evacuation programs in August and February. Judea and Samaria spokesman Superintendent Moshe Fintzy said that in an attack on the officer's car, which took place in Karnei Shomron on Monday night, all four of his tires were slashed and the sentence, "A Jew doesn't expel a Jew," was written on the vehicle in orange paint. The tires of a community policeman who also lives in the area were slashed even though he did not take part in any evacuation. He declined to disclose the names of the victims. Fintzy said there had been no previous threats on the life of the IDF officer and that the police were not providing him with a security detail despite the assault. "We aren't responsible for providing protection for IDF officers," he said, adding that it is something the army deals with. This is the fourth attack on a vehicle belonging to a member of the security forces involved in one of the evacuation programs since the demolition of nine houses in the outpost of Amona just over two months ago. During the operation, the police clashed with demonstrators trying to prevent the evacuation and more than 250 people were injured, including over 80 members of the security forces. The three previous attacks were against senior police officers who led the Amona operation, prompting the police to unify the investigations under the aegis of the Serious and International Crimes Unit (Yachbal). Fintzy said he didn't know if the attacks were carried out by one group because the police have no evidence to back it up. "However, it is the same background," he said. "It is connected to everybody who was in disengagement." Fintzy was not certain either if the Yachbal would include the latest incidents in its probe. "The cases will be investigated at the district level and then we will see what to do with them," he said. Although the attacks appeared to be the work of right-wing activists, Emily Amrusy, spokeswoman for the Council of Jewish Communities in Judea and Samaria (Yesha), condemned them. "Like every Israeli, I think it is very bad but I think you need to be wary of blaming all of the settler public, and this is something they are doing in the press. We are very angry about that," she said. "It's very important to say that it's a minority. The settler public is one that loves and respects the IDF," she added. "It's a public that doesn't like the police but it's not one that believes in burning the cars of police officers." While reluctant to blame right-wing activists, Amrusy rejected the theory that Kadima planned the attacks to make the opponents of the evacuations look bad. "It's very difficult to believe that it's a conspiracy, because I still feel that I live in a more or less balanced country," she said. In the first attack that happened in mid-February, the car of deputy commander of Judea and Samaria Police, Lt.-Cmdr. Meir Bokovza, was torched. Just under a month later, the same thing happened to the vehicle of Dep.-Cmdr. Haim Padlon, who lives in Hadera. Padlon is part of the Judea and Samaria Police and is supervising the investigation into the protesters who took part in the violence at Amona. A few days after the attack on Padlon's car, the wing mirrors of Judea and Samaria police chief Cmdr. Yisrael Yitzhak were broken and taken from his vehicle in Yavneh, where he lives. However, because of the small scale of the vandalism, one officer said she didn't believe it was a revenge strike.