Foreign Minister Eli Cohen spoke strongly Monday morning about the exposure of the Samaria Council about the UN's "settler violence" campaign, which presented the world with a pretense of an increase in Jewish nationalist crime in Judea and Samaria since October 7, but in fact it turned out to include terrorist attacks against Israelis in the West Bank. "The false anti-Israeli campaign of 'settler violence' is detached from reality," Cohen said.
Clashes in Judea and Samaria: arson and stone-throwing at settlers (archive)
Yesterday, the Samaria Regional Council, in cooperation with other organizations, issued a report investigating the campaign, which is funded by the European Union and extreme left-wing organizations. The report reveals that terrorist attacks against Israelis are portrayed on the UN website and in international media as "settler violence." The report shows that figures presented to the entire world as an increase in Jewish nationalist crime in Judea and Samaria since October 7 actually include terrorist attacks against Israelis in the West Bank.
The head of the Samaria Regional Council presented the data this morning to Foreign Minister Eli Cohen. The foreign minister was shocked by the remarks and said: "The exposure that the head of the Samaria Council gave me is very important. If this is true, it is a serious thing. I will demand answers from the UN and I will instruct the Foreign Ministry to forward the report's data to our ambassadors around the world so that they can use it and refute this blood libel. This is an anti-Israeli campaign, false, and detached from reality. Its sole purpose is to defame an entire population. As a state of law, we will continue to deal with each specific case while strengthening settlement in Judea and Samaria."
"Anti-Semitic Campaign", Yossi Dagan, Photo: Oren Ben Hakon
Head of the Samaria Regional Council, Yossi Dagan: "I thank the minister for entering the issue of the inciting campaign against the most donor and law-abiding population in the State of Israel. This report is unequivocal proof that the 'settler violence' campaign is an anti-Semitic campaign for all intents and purposes, aimed at harming the State of Israel. The false campaign that was born as a result led to serious decisions by the US administration, including the call not to approve visas for residents of Judea and Samaria suspected of friction with the Palestinian population, a decision that has not even been made against murderers and rapists from around the world. The decision to present all cases of violence in Judea and Samaria against settlers in Judea and Samaria as "settler violence" is a blatant violation of any code of ethics.
We demand that the UN website delete the false data and issue a clear apology. We demand that the figures on the number of Palestinian terror attacks against Israelis in Judea and Samaria, 5 times more terror attacks against Israelis and 31 times more serious terrorist incidents – be published on the UN website and condemned. We look forward to the immediate response of the UN Secretary General to this criminal act, as well as the President of the United States, together with the Secretary of State, to retract the harsh words they made against the Jewish population of Judea and Samaria."
Yossi Dagan and Eli Cohen,
Data collected by both the police and the IDF show that in the second month of the war there was a drop in the number of "nationalist incidents" by Israelis in Judea and Samaria. According to police figures, this is the second consecutive month in which there has been a decline of about 50 per cent in incidents compared to the same period last year. This represents an average of about 50 incidents per month, compared with double the number in the same months last year.
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