US calls on Israel to probe and prosecute settler rioters

The US administration called on Sunday for Israel to investigate the recent settler “riots and terror” in Palestinian villages and prosecute the perpetrators, Israel’s Army Radio has reported.

The US Advisor on National Security Affairs, Jake Sullivan, is said to have spoken on the telephone with his Israeli counterpart Tzachi Hanegbi and discussed the settler violence against the Palestinian villages.

Hanegbi told Sullivan that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had condemned the “riots and terror” carried out by the settlers, and said that the perpetrators would be held accountable.

Israel media have reported several telephone calls between Sullivan and Hanegbi during which the former said that Israel should take further measures to restore calm with the Palestinians following the latest violence.

Dangerous settler mobs, backed by the Israeli army, have made repeated attacks on the Palestinian villages of Orif, Beit Furik, Huwara, Turmus Ayya and others near the West Bank cities of Ramallah and Nablus. The settlers set fire to Palestinian homes, vehicles, farms and even ambulances, and hundreds of Palestinian residents have been wounded, including women and children.

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