A far‑right member of the Israeli parliament has hammered a Palestinian memorial in the occupied West Bank with a sledgehammer while under military escort.
The strike, filmed on video, has triggered backlash from Palestinians and from politicians across Israel’s spectrum.
Officials say the stone monument in the village of Madama was erected in 2008 to honour Palestinians killed in the 1968 battle of Karameh and later intifadas. The memorial was meant to celebrate resilience, not to glorise violence.
Zvi Sukkot, a representative of the far‑right Religious Zionism party, led the attack, declaring that the memorial could not remain standing here because it glorified terrorism.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said soldiers had been present but did not intervene, and later stopped the group. They accuse Sukkot and his aides of acting without authorization and de‑facto taking the law into their own hands.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the incident, warning that such actions undermine military focus on counter‑terrorism and could inflame tensions in the West Bank. Opponents in the opposition criticised Sukkot’s behaviour as a disgrace for a public figure.
The episode adds to a series of settler attacks that have intensified in recent months, drawing international scrutiny and raising concerns that the conflict could flare up further.
