Israeli occupation Knesset Itamar Ben-Gvir brandishes a loaded gun in East al-Quds. (Palestine Chronicle)

Tel Aviv, October 16 (RHC)-- Member of the Israeli Knesset Itamar Ben-Gvir has urged Israeli settlers to shoot Palestinians, while brandishing a loaded gun in the occupied East al-Quds neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah.  “We’re the landlords here.  Remember that, I am your landlord,” Ben Gvir was quoted by Middle East Monitor, urging Israeli settlers to shoot Palestinians who throw stones in resistance of occupation.

Ben-Gvir threatened to “mow down” a group of Palestinians during a visit to the same area amid a rise in settler violence against local communities.  In an interview with Israeli army radio station Galei Tzahal in August 2022, Ben-Gvir said that if he is in the next government, he would work to advance a law that would strip citizenship from and expel “anyone working against Israel from within Israel”.

Such hate speech and calls to kill Palestinians and expel them is not unprecedented among Israeli apartheid regime officials. Also, Israeli lawmakers are permitted to carry firearms for "security reasons".  In 2014, Israeli parliament member and lawmaker Ayelet Shaked has stigmatized all Palestinians as terrorists, wishing death on all Palestinians while supporting the Israeli military assault.

Israel’s policies of using lethal force against Palestinians and extrajudicial killings that go unaccountable, also the vandalism and violence known as price tag attacks which are committed by Israeli settlers against Palestinians and their property, have risen in recent years.

Israeli occupation soldiers and Israeli settlers have noticeably been escalating their attacks against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank and other areas, encouraged by Israeli officials, in an attempt to forcibly expel Palestinians from their lands and make way for expanding Illegal Jewish-only settlements.

Settlers are never persecuted for their activities against Palestinians and their properties.