Israeli security forces raided the village of Ramat Migron in northern Judea early Tuesday morning and began demolishing the homes of the three Jewish families.
Severe police violence was reported, including unprovoked attacks against women and minors, despite the fact that security forces encountered no resistance to the demolitions.
Cellphones were confiscated from Ramat Migron residents and from supporters who arrived at the scene to document the incident.
Four residents were reportedly injured by security forces, including a 17-year-old girl who was injured in the head and hands.
Six Ramat Migron residents were arrested for attempting to intervene.
“The police just came running and swooped onto the hill,” said Ramat Migron resident Hodia Kehati.
“They beat anyone in sight – including young girls – and simply stole the phones of anyone who tried to record the violence. We asked the police to send a medic to treat the injured girl who was bleeding or at least allow us to call Magen David Adom, but they refused. It was a difficult and shocking sight.”
“Within minutes, we were evicted from our house, all our furniture and personal possessions were thrown out and a tractor ran over the house smashing it to pieces,” she added.
This was the third time in a month that security forces targeted the Ramat Migron village, which stands in the central West Bank just 15 minutes north of Jerusalem.
In response to the demolitions and state violence, Ramat Migron residents said that it is impossible to ignore the fact that Israel is currently in an election period.
“It seems that Defense Minister Benny Gantz and Prime Minister Yair Lapid have decided to conduct their election campaign on the backs of the residents of the hilltop communities while cynically exploiting the position they currently hold.”
“During the evictions, the police used severe violence, unnecessarily, and it seems as if they received an order from above to ‘give it to the settlers.’ At any cost.”
The residents of Ramat Migron appear correct in their analysis of the situation.
According to a poll conducted following Israel’s last national election, Gantz (National Unity) and Lapid (Yesh Atid) are the favored political leaders of the wealthiest sliver of Israeli society.
Israel’s westernized elites, who believe the state belongs to them and feel threatened by the growing political strength of Jews more deeply connected to their identity and history, tend to be impressed with government ministers who know how to use Israel’s power against West Bank Jews who look like they’re living out some Biblical fantasy in the Judean mountains.
Gantz has already shown that he’s capable of unleashing untold punishment on Palestinians – especially in Gaza. What his voters need to see is that he can beat down the other, more complicated, threat. That he has what it takes to brutalize those pesky Judeans with their “messianic” dreams of Israel becoming something other than an outpost for the capitalist West.
But Gantz (and probably Lapid) is likely trying to impress more than just wealthy residents of north Tel Aviv seeking a return to the “glorious Israel” of the Ashkenazi generals. He also wants to show Washington that he can be trusted to act against those standing in the way of US interests in the Semitic region, which call for Israel to be divided into two separate nation-states – each dependent on American support for survival.
