There is no justification for violence or incitement against soldiers in the Israel Defense Forces or ordinary citizens regardless of race or religion, President Shimon Peres and a delegation of settler leaders in Judea and Samaria announced on Thursday. While disputes are legitimate, they said, baseless hatred and violence are not. Peres, Yesha chairman Danny Dayan and Rabbi Elie Sadan agreed that demonization of all the settlers of Judea and Samaria on the basis of the brutal and criminal acts of a few is uncalled for. Regardless of differences of opinion, they said, there must be mutual respect and civilized dialogue. All three made the point that the IDF is a people's army, made up of different sectors of the population, and that religiously observant soldiers are not different than secular soldiers in terms of loyalty and trust.
