Member of Knesset Tzvi Sukkot arrived with a sledgehammer on Tuesday to the Palestinian villages of Madama and Burin south of Nablus to shatter monuments erected in memory of terrorists behind fatal attacks on Israelis while IDF units secured the area. Sukkot insisted the operation had been fully coordinated with military authorities, although the military disputed that claim.
The intervention by Sukkot – who heads the parliamentary subcommittee overseeing the region – followed stalled appeals urging the army to tear down the shrines. One dismantled structure in Madama honored Yamen Taieb Ali Faraj, identified in Supreme Court documentation as an accomplice in dispatching the perpetrator of the Geha Junction bombing in 2023 during the Second Intifada (Palestinian violent uprising). That attack claimed the lives of Advah Fisher, Noam Leibowitz, Angelina Shcherov, and Rotem Weinberg, injuring over 20 people.
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A second monument in Burin marked the memory of Hamdan Hussein Mahmoud al-Najjar. Back in December 1988, al-Najjar ambushed and killed Yaakov Faraj near the Har Bracha settlement close to Nablus, subsequently seizing the victim's weapon to fire upon arriving soldiers. Cpl. Arthur (Alter) Herzig lost his life in the exchange, two other troops sustained injuries, and al-Najjar was killed by return fire.
"A few days ago, I demanded that the army remove the monuments glorifying terrorists in the villages of Madama and Burin, but unfortunately they remained in place. Therefore I arrived myself and acted to remove them," Sukkot stated.
He added, "We will not allow a situation where those who harmed Jews and IDF soldiers are commemorated as heroes and presented to the next generation as figures of adoration. Alongside the fight against terrorism itself, we must prevent attempts to legitimize it in the public consciousness. Many Jews paid with their lives because of the terrorists originating from these villages. We will not allow the murder of Jews to be glorified, nor will we permit the commemoration of terrorism to become part of our public space."
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu commented on the incident, saying: "The IDF is the sovereign authority in Judea and Samaria and is entrusted with implementing the decisions of the political echelon. Taking the law into one's own hands, particularly by public figures, is unacceptable and distracts the IDF from focusing on its missions against terror and incitement."
The IDF also issued a statement claiming that the action was not approved, but rather was taken at Sukkot's own initiative after receiving a general permission to enter the village with others.
"Contrary to the coordinated plan, the participants acted in a deceptive and manipulative manner, without authority and in direct violation of the approved outline, and began destroying a monument in the village of Madama. Upon recognizing the unauthorized activity, the troops consulted their commanders, who ordered the action to be stopped, and the individuals were escorted out of the village," the IDF said. "IDF forces designated for operational missions in the sector were diverted for this purpose and unnecessarily endangered, at a time when the military is already under significant operational strain. The IDF views the MK's conduct and lack of coordination with utmost severity, describing it as an abuse of the security forces' protection and a complete overstepping of authority."
Opposition parliamentarian Gilad Kariv lashed out at the stunt, contrasting the deployment with recent refusals to authorize his own inspection tours to the West Bank village of Kusra under the justification of troop shortages.
"Time and again we asked to coordinate an arrival in Kusra with the IDF over recent weeks. Time and again our request has been refused without explanation, undermining parliamentary oversight work. There is no manpower, we were told," Kariv stated.
"It turns out there is manpower to escort the firebrand into the heart of a Palestinian village. Just on Monday, it was reported that the Central Command chief warned that it takes only a match to ignite the West Bank. Tzvika Sukkot is storming into the role with glee," he added.
