Reserve IDF officers in Binyamin said that they had felt a significant rise in violence directed toward them, and had received death threats during riots in the West Bank, Israeli public broadcaster KAN reported on Monday night.
Soldiers in Battalion 7114 told KAN that they had received threats on their lives and against their families from Jewish extremists in the West Bank.
Rioters attacked Israeli security forces with pepper spray, vandalized military vehicles, and tried to set a West Bank security base on fire on Sunday night.
A soldier in Battalion 7114 who was walking by the riot in Binyamin reported that participants called him a Nazi and threatened to kill him.
"Tough days. I passed by there early in the protest; there were calls of 'murderer' directed at me. They also called me 'Nazi,’” an unnamed soldier told KAN. “There’s some sort of escalation, like a cat-and-mouse game. They’re moved away, then they come back, fight with you, and threaten to kill you. Most of them are young people in their early 20s."
Rioters beat and choked IDF soldiers near Ramallah
The incident in Binyamin is the second instance of reported settler violence toward IDF soldiers in the last week.
A crowd of masked rioters assaulted IDF soldiers near Ramallah on Friday night. KAN reported that the rioters beat, choked, and threw stones at the soldiers. Several soldiers and an officer were lightly wounded.
They also attempted to set fire to a structure used by police and spray-painted the word “Revenge” in Hebrew on it, Army Radio reported.
The Jerusalem Post reported that six people were arrested for participating in the riots. An additional five people were arrested earlier on Wednesday for an event related to the Ramallah incident.
IDF launches West Bank operation
IDF forces launched an operation to arrest suspects involved in terrorist activity throughout the West Bank on Monday night.
The operation covers the Askar refugee camp east of Nablus, Ramallah, the al-Fawar refugee camp south of Hebron, the village of Sarra west of Nablus, Hebron, Tubas, Beita, and Dahariya in the southern Hebron Hills.