Criticism of Sukkot from within the party: "Have we decided to commit suicide once and for all?"

"Is this a move coordinated with the campaign? Is there a deep strategy in it that I am completely missing, or have we just decided to commit suicide once and for all? I am asking honestly." This is what MK Ohad Tal wrote today (Tuesday) in an internal group of the Religious Zionism party, following the decision of his party colleague Zvi Sukkot to destroy a monument to terrorists in a Palestinian village — while exploiting the power of the IDF, as stated in the army's announcement.

The attack on Sukkot, chairman of the Knesset Education Committee, did not come only from within the party, but most members of the coalition to which he belongs ignored the move. Party chairman Bezalel Smotrich has also not yet responded. The one who did condemn it was Minister Gideon Sa'ar, who wrote:

"MK Zvi Sukkot — like any other MK — is not the sovereign in the territories of Judea and Samaria. Decisions must be made and carried out by the state and its authorities, the IDF and the security forces, and by them alone. This is also what public officials should project to the public. Unfortunately, MK Sukkot knowingly did the opposite."

Sukkot claimed that he had submitted a request to the IDF to demolish the monument, and when he did not receive a response, he decided to do it himself. The IDF rejected his words and issued a particularly sharp response:

"The IDF regularly demolishes monuments and symbols of incitement subject to all required approvals and in coordination with the Civil Administration, as has happened several times in recent months and was planned to be carried out in another operation soon. This is an important action in the war against terror and incitement to terror. Contrary to the coordination, the participants acted in a false and manipulative manner, without authority and in complete contradiction to the outline that was approved, and began to destroy one of the monuments in the village of Madama. Upon identifying what was happening, the force spoke with its commanders, who instructed to stop what was happening and the aforementioned were removed from the village. IDF forces designated for operational tasks in the sector were diverted for the task and were endangered unnecessarily, all while the IDF is under operational load. The IDF views the conduct and lack of coordination by the MK as severe, and as an exploitation of the security forces' protection for a complete overreach of authority."