US said pushing Netanyahu to publicly condemn settler violence in Qusra as PM keeps mum

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

50% : " Katz claimed that he had directed IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir and other senior military officials in a meeting on Thursday to coordinate with counterparts in the Israel Police "to prepare and establish a force suitable for dealing with and handling civil matters.
48% : The question of enforcement Meanwhile, Katz, who had thus far refrained from commenting on the situation unfolding in Qusra, announced on Friday that he had instructed the IDF to draft a plan for transferring civilian law enforcement powers in the West Bank to the Israel Police.
47% : The operation saw Israeli forces take over several Palestinian homes, clearing out some families in the process, and mostly leave overnight, with the settlers still in place, according to residents who spoke with The Times of Israel.
47% : According to Mia Biran, a "Combatants for Peace" activist who was at the scene and spoke with The Times of Israel, around 100 Palestinian and Israeli activists arrived at the site Friday morning together with the Palestinian owners of the private land, following a settler takeover of an abandoned building that raised concerns that settlers would take control of the entire area.
46% : " A police source cited by Ynet added that for police to have full enforcement powers in the West Bank, Israel would need to annex the territory and apply full sovereignty over it.
45% : By Friday morning, the IDF troops had left most of the homes they had entered in the village, residents of the village told The Times of Israel, except the besieged home belonging to Yusuf Hassan.
44% : The international interventions and reports of ire in the White House did little to calm the situation or prevent new incidents of violence from cropping up elsewhere in the West Bank.
42% : But the Border Police force did prevent dozens of Israeli activists from entering the besieged homes to bring food to the Palestinian families, resident Qusay Abu Ridi told The Times of Israel.
40% : " While the siege has not drawn any considerable criticism from the Israeli political echelon, US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee -- a strong supporter of Jewish settlement in the West Bank -- condemned the settlers behind it on Thursday as "Israeli terrorists.
40% : " International condemnations and fresh violence France has also attempted to intervene in the situation, and its foreign ministry called on Friday for Israel to arrest and prosecute the settlers responsible for the siege.
38% : The statement from Katz's office refrained from mentioning Qusra or explicitly referring to Jewish extremism, instead proclaiming that the military's job was to "fight Palestinian terrorism" and protect Israel's border, not to chase "youths on hilltops" -- a common euphemism for settlers who attack Palestinians in the West Bank.
38% : "The move by Defense Minister Israel Katz is intended to divert criticism away from the IDF, which is the sovereign authority on the ground, and onto the police," a senior police official in the region said.
34% : Netanyahu has remained silent since the settlers first established an illegal outpost outside the homes of two Palestinian families in the Nablus-area village of Qusra on Sunday, and throughout the past three days of failed attempts by security forces to remove the settlers -- who were characterized by Defense Minister Israel Katz on Friday as "hilltop youths.
28% : Instead, he said, the Israel Police should fight civilian crime in the West Bank, "like everywhere else in the State of Israel.

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