Israeli Defense Minister Naftali Bennett on Saturday issued restraining orders barring members of a radical left-wing group from Judea and Samaria.
Activists with a group called “Anarchists Against the Wall”—an anti-Zionist movement founded in 2003 to protest Israel’s security barrier—have been instigating “violent provocations” each week in a number of Palestinian villages, said Bennett, adding that there was evidence that the alleged violence was aimed at harming Israeli soldiers, damaging property and causing “serious public-relations damage” to the country.
“Orders of this type have so far only been issued in the Jewish public against ‘price-tag’ activists, and will now also be directed against anarchist activists on the left,” said Bennett’s office in a statement. (“Price tag” refers to acts of vandalism by Jewish radicals against Palestinians in the West Bank.)
The restraining order will apply to Jonathan Pollak, the group’s founder and a longtime campaigner against Israel’s policies in Judea and Samaria, as well as to 30 other activists.
Pollak, who currently works for Israel’s left-wing Haaretz newspaper, was arrested two weeks ago following a complaint submitted by Zionist organization Ad Kan that documented his participation in a number violent riots against Israeli soldiers.
“No one was the right to harm IDF soldiers and Israel’s security in the name of freedom of expression and the right to protest. The time has come to stop the cheap provocations by these same anarchists and take a strong hand against internal enemies,” the statement said.
Israeli troops deployed in the area have also been instructed to “act firmly” against any violence by the group, according to the statement.
This article first appeared in Israel Hayom.
