Middle East Eye
Israeli lawmaker smashes Palestinian memorial in occupied West Bank
Israeli lawmaker smashes Palestinian memorial in occupied West Bank
Submitted by
Nadav Rapaport
on
Tue, 08/25/2026 - 15:13
Zvi Sukkot used a sledgehammer to destroy the monument near Nablus, despite the Israeli army saying the demolition was not authorised
People inspect the damaged Palestinian memorial at the Madama village in the northern West Bank on 25 August 2026 (Jaafar Ashtiyeh/AFP)
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An Israeli Knesset member smashed a Palestinian memorial in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, prompting condemnation.
Zvi Sukkot, a member of Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s Religious Zionism party, was filmed smashing the Palestinian Martyrs' Monument in the village of Madama, south of Nablus, with a sledgehammer.
In a video posted to Facebook, Sukkot said the memorial commemorated two Palestinians who had killed Israelis and argued that it could not be allowed to remain.
“We must take it down,” he said, adding that he wanted the memorial destroyed because children growing up in the village and passing it would be inspired to become “martyrs” themselves.
Sukkot, who chairs the Knesset Education Committee, was accompanied by Israeli military forces during the incident, despite the army later saying that the destruction had not been authorised.
The Israeli military said its forces had raided several Palestinian villages in the Nablus area after Sukkot submitted a formal request to inspect memorials in Beita, Burin and Madama, according to Israeli public broadcaster Kan 11.
The army said the destruction of the Madama memorial was not approved through the proper channels and that its forces halted the demolition.
“Sukkot and his staff acted in a deceptive and manipulative manner,” the military said, adding that their actions had endangered its soldiers.
The army nevertheless said its forces “regularly destroy memorials and symbols of incitement”, describing such actions as “an important part of the war against terrorism”.
Sukkot’s office said the lawmaker had acted after the army failed to respond to his demands to destroy the memorial.
Footage showed several members of Sukkot’s staff taking part in the vandalism alongside him.
His spokesman, Yossi Rainer, also posted a photograph on X of himself holding a sledgehammer in front of the damaged memorial.
Rami Nassar, head of the Madama village council, told Haaretz that the memorial had stood for around 20 years and had never previously been damaged, despite repeated Israeli calls for its removal.
Nassar said threats against the memorial had intensified in recent weeks. Several weeks ago, he said, Israelis were seen measuring it before leaving the area.
He rejected the army’s account of Tuesday’s incident, saying Israeli soldiers stood by as Sukkot and his staff vandalised the memorial.
Condmentions
Sukkot’s campaign against Palestinian memorials in the area began at least two weeks before Tuesday’s incident.
Eleven days earlier, he posted a video filmed outside Madama calling for memorials commemorating Palestinian fighters to be destroyed.
“The time has come to smash these memorials,” Sukkot said, adding that memorials “in memory of the terrorists here and in other villages must be destroyed and broken”.
The Tuesday footage drew criticism from across Israel’s political spectrum, with opposition politicians accusing Sukkot and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of allowing lawlessness to spread in the occupied West Bank.
“Sukkot's behaviour is a disgrace for someone who claims to represent the public and be a leader,” opposition figure Gadi Eisenkot said on X.
According to the former army chief, Netanyahu “allows anarchists” like Sukkot “to do whatever they please, endangering security in the settlements and harming Israel's standing in the world”.
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Yair Golan, leader of the The Democrats party, also attacked Sukkot, stating the Israeli lawmaker “should be behind bars, not in Israel's Knesset”.
“For this coalition, flames are a working method,” Golan said, amid reports that the military had warned of a potential escalation in the West Bank.
“As long as the public is afraid and fighting amongst itself, they can continue to rule,” he added.
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar also criticised Sukkot’s actions, although he stopped short of directly condemning the destruction.
Sa’ar said Sukkot and other Israeli lawmakers were “not the sovereign” in the West Bank, adding that “decisions must be made and carried out by the state and its authorities”.
Tuesday’s incident was not the first time Sukkot has been filmed vandalising Palestinian property.
Last month, the Knesset member posted footage of himself vandalising the Islamic Orphanage Secondary School in Jerusalem’s Old City.
In June, he stormed a Palestinian school in the northern Israeli town of Tuba-Zangariyye and attempted to break into the premises using a disc saw.
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