Israeli lawmaker takes a sledgehammer to a memorial at Madama

An Israeli member of the Knesset destroyed a memorial to Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the village of Madama, south of Nablus in the occupied West Bank, on Tuesday, striking it with a sledgehammer while soldiers stood nearby.

Zvi Sukkot, who sits for the far-right Religious Zionism party and chairs the Knesset education committee, was filmed at the monument, and members of his staff joined in breaking it up. His spokesman afterwards posted a photograph of himself holding a sledgehammer in front of the damaged structure.

In a video he published on Facebook, Sukkot said the memorial honoured two Palestinians who had killed Israelis, and that it should not be left standing where the village's children pass it every day. "We must take it down," he said.

The Israeli army said it had entered several villages around Nablus after Sukkot formally asked to inspect memorials at Beita, Burin and Madama, and that the demolition itself was never approved through its own channels. It said Sukkot and his staff "acted in a deceptive and manipulative manner", that they put soldiers at risk, and that its forces halted the work.

The army also said its troops routinely destroy memorials it regards as symbols of incitement, and described that as part of its campaign against what it calls terrorism.

The head of the Madama village council, Rami Nassar, said the memorial had stood for about 20 years and had never been damaged before, despite repeated Israeli demands that it be taken down. He said the threats had grown sharper in recent weeks, that Israelis had been seen measuring the structure some weeks ago, and that on Tuesday the soldiers present did not intervene — an account that contradicts the army's.

Sukkot had been pressing the case in public. Eleven days earlier he filmed himself outside the village calling for memorials to Palestinian fighters there and in other villages to be smashed. Israeli media reported that he had sought permission more than a month ago to visit Palestinian villages, that it was granted days before, and that Tuesday's visit lasted about half an hour.

The footage drew criticism across Israel's political spectrum. Gadi Eisenkot, a former army chief now in opposition, called the behaviour a disgrace for a man who claims to lead, and said the prime minister was letting such figures act as they please. Yair Golan, who heads The Democrats, said Sukkot belonged behind bars rather than in parliament. Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar, while stopping short of condemning the destruction, said legislators were not the sovereign in the West Bank and that decisions there were for the state and its authorities to take.

It was not the first episode of its kind. Last month Sukkot posted footage of himself vandalising the Islamic Orphanage Secondary School in the Old City of Jerusalem, and in June he tried to force his way into a Palestinian school in the northern Israeli town of Tuba-Zangariyye using a disc saw.