Zvi Sukkot smashed a Palestinian memorial with a sledgehammer while accompanied by Israeli soldiers, with the IDF saying the act was not authorised.
Sukkot said the monument commemorated people who had murdered Jews and rejected calls to express regret over its destruction.
The incident went viral internationally and drew condemnation from Israeli military and political officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office.
Far-right Israeli lawmaker Zvi Sukkot on Wednesday defended smashing a monument in a Palestinian village in the occupied West Bank, rejecting calls for him to regret the act even as footage of the incident drew hundreds of thousands of views and sparked international coverage, as per Ynet News.
Sukkot smashed a Palestinian memorial with a sledgehammer in a West Bank village on Tuesday, according to footage accessed by The Times of Israel, while Israeli soldiers stood nearby. The Israeli military later said Sukkot and his aides had acted without authorisation and departed from the approved framework of their visit. The incident immediately drew attention and heightened tensions in the contested territory.
Why Did Zvi Sukkot Smash The Monument?
Sukkot said that Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar and the IDF spokesman were responsible for the international fallout, not his actions. Sukkot visited Palestinian villages in coordination with the Knesset security officer and IDF.
He encountered the monument in Madama and took a hammer and began smashing it. The IDF says it did not know beforehand that he intended to damage it.
Sukkot says the monument commemorated people he considers terrorists. The head of Madama said it commemorated Palestinians killed during the intifada. He said, as quoted by YNet News, “I haven’t found a single public figure anywhere in the world who condemned this,” he said.
‘What Is There To Regret?’: Sukkot Defends Action
In an interview with Israeli radio station Kol Barama, Sukkot said that the foreign minister condemned the act. He was asked if he regretted his actions. “Regret? What is there for me to regret? It is a monument to people who murdered Jews. Every minute it stands there is incitement to terrorism,” he said, as quoted by YNet News.
Why Did The Incident Trigger International Fallout?
The footage of Sukkot smashing the monument was posted by CNN on TikTok, and was viewed by hundreds of thousands.
The monument reportedly commemorates members of the al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades and Palestinians who were killed during the intifada. French newspaper Le Monde also reported on the incident, saying that Sukkot attempted to demolish a memorial to Palestinian “martyrs” in Madama, near Nablus in the West Bank. Sukkot described those being commemorated as “terrorists”. The incident drew condemnation from both Israeli military and political officials.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office also condemned the act. In a post on X, it said, “The IDF has overriding authority on security 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 hinders the IDF from focusing on its missions of combating terror and incitement.”
In a post on X, he said, “Every child who sees every day a giant monument that glorifies murderers of Jews will dream of being a terrorist.”
