Following the refusal of many fighters of the Golani fifty-first battalion to act against settlers in Qusra, the battalion will be replaced on Sunday by the Sayeret Haruv special force, which is being deployed to the area, community activist Elisha Yared reported Saturday night.
The “settler violence” campaign has found its latest cause célèbre last week in the Arab village of Qusra, south of Shechem, and this time, even US Ambassador Mike Huckabee appears to have been taken in by the narrative.
Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir refused to be disheartened, writes Yared, noting, “At the end of last week, the 51st Battalion of the Golani Brigade was deployed for an operation against settlers on two hills in Samaria, just before it was supposed to cross into Lebanon.
“The decision to use the fighters as a police force against Jews sparked severe criticism within the battalion, and dozens of soldiers informed their commanders that they would not take part in such an operation that contradicts the basic values they were raised on.”
AFSI Insight
AFSI sees this as a troubling test of Israel’s priorities. IDF soldiers should be defending Israel and fighting its enemies—not being diverted into a police force targeting Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria. The reported refusal by Golani soldiers to participate in such an operation reflects a deeply held understanding that Jews living in their historic homeland should not be treated as the enemy.
At the same time, law and order must apply to everyone, and genuine violence should be dealt with appropriately. But AFSI strongly rejects the broader “settler violence” narrative when it is used to delegitimize Jewish presence in Judea and Samaria. The IDF’s primary mission must remain defending the Jewish state and protecting its citizens from terrorism—not enforcing policies that place Jewish residents in the crosshairs.