Israeli general's leaked remarks expose West Bank firing double standard
Leaked remarks attributed to Major-General Avi Bluth, the Israeli commander responsible for the occupied West Bank, have drawn attention to what he described as a two-tier firing policy.
In comments published by an Israeli newspaper, he said Israeli forces were avoiding shooting at settlers throwing stones, while firing at Palestinians doing the same.
Bluth was quoted as saying the army was "killing like we haven't killed since 1967" and "turning villages into conflict zones".
He also said the military had killed 42 Palestinian stone-throwers in 2025.
The comments matter because they appear to confirm long-running allegations of unequal treatment in the occupied West Bank.
They also come amid a wider political climate in which hardline rhetoric and policies toward Palestinians have become more visible in Israel.
Bluth said firing at Israeli settlers was being avoided because of what he called the "profound societal consequences" of doing so.
The remarks were described as undated and were said to have been made without his knowledge that they would be leaked.
The article also linked the comments to a broader shift in Israeli politics, citing figures such as Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich as examples of the country's increasingly nationalistic direction.
