Israeli lawmaker damages Palestinian memorial in West Bank village of Madama

A far-right Israeli lawmaker has badly damaged a Palestinian memorial with a sledgehammer in the occupied West Bank village of Madama. Video footage showed Zvi Sukkot, a member of the Religious Zionism party, striking the stone monument while under military escort. The incident has prompted criticism from Palestinians and from across the political spectrum in Israel.

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The footage showed Sukkot and several others hitting the memorial, which stands in Madama. In the video, Sukkot said the site could not be left standing because, in his words, any place that glorifies terrorism must be removed. The Israel Defense Forces said its soldiers were present during the incident and that it had approved a tour of monuments in the area for Sukkot and was providing security.

It later said Sukkot and the others had acted deceptively and without authorisation. Rami Nasar, the head of the village council in Madama, said the monument was erected in 2008 to remember Palestinians killed in the battle of Karameh in 1968. He said it also commemorates Palestinians killed in the first and second intifadas.

Nasar said the memorial was intended to honour people killed in conflict with Israel, regardless of political affiliation. The military said soldiers eventually stopped Sukkot and escorted his group out of Madama after reporting the incident to commanders. The episode has added to tensions in the West Bank, where attacks by settlers on Palestinians have increased in recent months and drawn international condemnation.

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Madama itself has previously been targeted in attacks by settlers, according to the report. The incident is politically sensitive because it involves a sitting lawmaker, a military escort, and a public act of destruction at a memorial tied to long-running Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The memorial's reference points also underline why the site matters locally.

Karameh was a day-long military confrontation in 1968 involving Israeli forces, the Palestine Liberation Organisation and Jordan, and the later intifadas remain central to Palestinian collective memory. By targeting a monument linked to those events, the act has touched on questions of memory, legitimacy and the limits of political expression in the occupied territory. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office criticised Sukkot's actions, saying taking the law into one's own hands, especially by public figures, was a reprehensible practice that distracts the army from its missions.

Gadi Eisenkot, Netanyahu's main rival in the upcoming general election, also criticised Sukkot. It remains unclear whether any further disciplinary or legal steps will follow, and whether the military will review how the escort was approved and managed.

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