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Demolished structures in Yitzhar. Photo by Moti Milrod
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Yitzhar woman expressed support for using deadly force against security forces after demolition of illegal structure in a closed email group.

By Chaim Levinson for Haaretz

The Judea and Samaria District Police overnight Wednesday arrested a settler from the northern West Bank settlement of Yitzhar on suspicion of inciting violence against Israeli soldiers.

Yedioth Ahronoth reported on Wednesday that a 22-year-old woman from the settlement said in a discussion in a closed email group that she supports using violence against Arabs and in some cases, also against Israelis. The discussion followed the demolition of an illegal structure in Yitzhar.

"I'm all for stone throwing (at Jews of course, there is no question about Arabs) in some cases – even if the rock would cause the death of a soldier!!!," she wrote, adding that she would back rock-hurlers, if faced with public criticism, even when she thinks their actions are not justified.

She was arrested after Yitzhar residents notified Israel Police of her email.

The settler is known to have extreme and racist views and she frequently shares them both on social networks and in the media, and therefore Yitzhar residents usually don't take her words seriously. In the past, after a military officer was attacked in the settlement, she expressed her support for the act. In 2011, in an interview on Channel 2, she said she supports attacks against Arabs.

The woman's husband was also called in for questioning on Wednesday morning. He used to operate a Facebook page "The Jews' Revenge" that called for violence against Arabs, but the page was closed by the social network.

"The suspect was questioned and gave her version of events, according to which there was no intention to incite" with her remarks, and that intrusion into a private forum is wrong, the woman's lawyer, Adi Keidar said in response to her arrest.

"We were surprised by how fast the police worked to arrest the suspect while the police shows unending tolerance toward incitement and acts against Jews in general and settlers in particular."