On Tuesday and Wednesday, the Israeli defense establishment hit a new low regarding its inability to restrain violent Jewish extremists in the West Bank.
Since 2023, there has been a running line of such new lows for the Israeli defense establishment versus violent Jewish extremists in the West Bank.
A mix of the rise in Palestinian terrorism, which started in March 2022, as well as the rise of Itamar Ben-Gvir running the police in January 2023, led to a rise in Jewish anarchists attacking Palestinian civilians.
What had often been "just price tag" spray paint vandalism for a decade or so morphed into far more actual violence and dangerous arsons.
February 2023 saw one of the first stunning and infamous mass Jewish attacks on the Palestinian town of Huwara.
Jewish extremist attacks were no longer one or two individuals, but large groups of dozens or even up to around 100.
By 2025-2026, such mass attacks are no longer shocking because they happen too often.
The gap is large, though it has narrowed
Palestinian terrorists have still killed many more Jews in the West Bank than Jewish terrorists have killed Palestinian civilians, and the Palestinian plots that are thwarted tend to be much more lethal, but the gap between the sides used to be much larger.
There has also been an increase in Jewish extremists using violence against IDF soldiers.
An issue that might have happened once a year in the past has become much more common.
But the latest incident is new.
This time, multiple rounds of IDF forces were sent to remove multiple rounds of violent Jewish extremists from harassing a small number of Palestinians on land under the control of the Palestinian Authority.
The IDF event sent out a message late Wednesday morning that it had removed the illegal structures built by the Jewish extremists in the area.
Yet, at press time, IDF sources still were not able to tell The Jerusalem Post when the Jewish extremists in the area themselves would be fully removed.
Rather, all IDF sources could say was that there remained IDF forces in the area also.
A few dozen activists can wreak havoc on local Palestinians
In a vacuum, a few dozen activists taking a hike and sleeping in a field with sleeping bags could seem harmless.
But these activists have already harassed the Palestinians nearby, and there have been so many recent cases when Jewish extremists have been violent that such trespassers into Palestinian areas cannot be given the benefit of the doubt.
In any case, trespassing is trespassing, and it is bizarre that the Jewish extremists have not been cleared after so much time has passed.
It is also bizarre that they have not nearly all been arrested, given that there are public videos showing their faces and showing them throwing rocks onto a path to prevent the IDF from evacuating them.
This is trespassing plus obstruction of the military enforcing the law, black and white.
Why is this latest incident happening now?
While any number of factors could explain it, Defense Minister Israel Katz's recent attacks on IDF Central Commander Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth for placing an administrative travel restraining order on Tal Yinon Dardik due to allegations that he attacked Palestinians in March and at other times, could be an obvious recent cause.
If you are a Jewish extremist in the West Bank and know that the defense minister may support you, along with the Ben-Gvir, who runs the police and is already supporting you, why not act up?
Katz got rid of administrative detention for Jews in January 2025, even though there are over 3,000 Palestinians still in administrative detention.
Then, in recent weeks, he was attacking, even using travel restraining orders.
If you will not be indicted and not even get a restraining order, why not fight the IDF and attack Palestinians if you are a violent Jewish extremist? What do you have to lose?
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been silent throughout this incident and the Dardik incident, signaling either that he supports Katz or, at the very least, will not stick his neck out to support Bluth, though Bluth is himself quite right-wing politically and was once his personal military secretary.
Short of the US publicly embarrassing Netanyahu into greater action, this might not even be the final low on this issue.
How much longer before the IDF and the police not only fail to arrest and punish such violent Jewish extremists, but also fail to even be able to stop them from acting violently and trespassing, with Wednesday coming pretty close to that point?