IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir on Thursday defended IDF Central Commander and West Bank chief Maj.-Gen. Avi Bluth, following the latest attacks against him, as reported in the Haaretz media outlet.
Last week, there were multiple attacks on Bluth from Haaretz, including publisher Amos Schocken declaring him a war criminal whom The Hague needed to stop and arrest.
On Thursday, Haaretz columnist Gideon Levy continued the attack, also framing Bluth as an ideologically right-wing war criminal.
All of the latest attacks have occurred after Bluth ordered the removal of over 3,000 trees to enhance security oversight in the area of Al-Mughayir village near Ramallah.
Palestinians and the outlet Haaretz have claimed that Bluth did not act solely out of narrow security considerations, but also out of an attempt to deter Palestinian terror through collective punishment, citing his statements about making problematic villages pay for the actions of terrorists coming from those villages.
Zamir stated that Bluth's actions have been consistent with his role in combating terror in the West Bank, within the bounds of international law.
He added that the attacks on Bluth do an injustice to an individual who has devoted his life to public service.
Already on Sunday, the IDF had issued a defense of Bluth's decision to engage in massive tree removal both in order to catch the terrorist from Al-Mughayir who shot a Jewish Israeli civilian in the head near the Malachi Hashalom area, northeast of Ramallah last week, as well as to improve the ability of security forces to intercept such terrorists in advance following multiple incidents along the Alon Corridor roads.
In May, Palestinian terrorists murdered Tzeela Gez, a 30-year-old mother of three, in a drive-by shooting on Route 446 near the Peduel junction in the Binyamin region of the West Bank. That terrorist cell perpetrated a number of terror attacks in the area.
In April 2024, the Palestinian terrorist who murdered 14-year-old Binyamin Ahimeir came from the Al-Mughayir area. The Jerusalem Post understands that this terror attack also impacted the decision for the need for clearer oversight in the Alon Corridor area.
Besides those reported and most deadly terror incidents, the Post understands that there have been regular rock throwing from the area, with the rock throwers often using the trees for cover to approach the road and then escape.
Further, the Post understands that the IDF believes the tree area has facilitated terrorists in the area to develop, transport, and place improvised explosive devices, as well as to set fires to cause danger to Israeli civilians in the area.
There have also been a variety of other terror attacks in recent weeks in other parts of the West Bank.
After all of that is said, it is unusual for the IDF to uproot that many trees after one or even multiple terror attacks in an area.
In past years, multiple terror attacks from one area would more likely lead to a temporary closure of the village and a large number of arrests in the village.
Villagers claim that every house was inspected, and many were ransacked without specific justification.
But the harsher treatment of trees falls more in line with the new policy in the West Bank of Bluth and of the government, of destroying portions of Jenin, Tulkarm, and Nur al-Shams after those areas repeatedly were the source of terror attacks.
Despite controversial policies, IDF action results in a drop in West Bank terror
While Israel has received significant global criticism for these moves, the IDF noted that there has been an 85% drop in terror since the start of 2025.
January of this year was around when the policy of destroying portions of Jenin, which were viewed as hosting the most significant volumes of terror cells, started.
It is unclear how international legal officials will respond to these new strategies employed by Israel.
Some ICC officials have suggested adding alleged crimes by the IDF in the West Bank to their cases against Israel, but to date, all the alleged charges have been related to Gaza.
Another element on which Haaretz's Levy attacked Bluth was the alleged seizure of Palestinian lands in the West Bank during the current war.
That topic is complex, with various factual backgrounds and legal issues arising depending on the specific land dispute at hand.
But generally, neither Bluth nor his predecessors actually has power over that issue.
Rather, the government and the Defense Ministry have power over that issue.
Most criticism on this issue from the Center and Left, within Israel and outside, has been focused on Bezalel Smotrich, who controls land policy through his role in the Defense Ministry.
Despite the recent attacks on Bluth from his left-wing critics, most of the attacks he has received during his one year in command have been from right-wing Israelis.
Bluth has ordered a number of crackdowns on right-wing Israeli extremists, as well as carried out the bulldozing of illegal right-wing Israeli outposts.
He and his officers have at times been physically and verbally assaulted by extremist right-wing activists for these moves.