A-G to investigate MK Zvika Fogel for Huwara incitement

An investigation into Otzma Yehudit MK Zvika Fogel for incitement to violence in connection to the Huwara settler riots was opened by the Attorney-General's office on Wednesday.

In response to the investigation, Fogel said he never aided any illegal actions, and that he wanted the village closed by the IDF as deterrence, otherwise civilians would act.

“I don’t think about it, I don’t want to deal with it at all,” said Fogel. “My tweets and words are available.”

Fogel's statements alleged to support riots

Fogel made statements on multiple radio stations on Monday that have been widely seen as supportive of the Sunday riots, which were conducted in retribution for the terrorist murders of Israeli brothers Hallel and Yagel Yaniv the same day.

"Yesterday a terrorist came from Huwara – Huwara is closed and burnt. That is what I want to see. Only thus can we obtain deterrence," Fogel said on Radio Galey Israel. "The act that the residents of Judea and Samaria carried out yesterday is the strongest deterrent that the State of Israel has had since Operation Defensive Shield. After a murder like yesterday, villages should burn when the IDF does not act."

Labor leader Merav Michaeli appealed in a letter on Sunday to Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara to open an investigation into Fogel. In the letter, she noted that it was illegal to incite, support or praise violence with a possibility for actionability. Such a crime has a maximum five-year prison sentence.

“I welcome the attorney-general’s decision to authorize an investigation, as we demanded, into MK Zvika Fogel’s horrific and inciting statements regarding the pogrom carried out by Jewish terrorists in Huwara,” Michaeli said on Wednesday. “These were extraordinarily extreme statements, and the distance between them and another pogrom against innocent people is very short.”

Otzma Yehudit MK Yitzhak Kroizer urged the attorney-general to retract her decision, which he described as a political move.

“Today she proved that she is not a legal adviser to the people, but a private adviser recruited by the Left,” said Kroizer. “To the shocking calls of leftists such as civil uprising, civil disobedience and rebellion, the attorney-general closed her eyes, but when it comes to an MK from the Right, she immediately orders an investigation, even though MK Fogel immediately and clearly clarified his words.”

A spokesperson for the Justice Ministry said there was no news about investigations into the statements of deputy Samaria Regional Council head Davidi Ben Zion, who had called on Twitter for Huwara to be erased. He later clarified on Sunday that he was opposed to anarchy and to taking action into one’s own hands.

The Israel Police announced on Wednesday that they had arrested five people, three adults and two minors, suspected of involvement in the disturbance in Huwara. Another suspect was released.

Dozens of Palestinian vehicles and homes were torched in the riots. Many suffered injuries in what IDF Central Command head Maj.-Gen. Yehuda Fuchs called a “pogrom,” in an interview with N12 on Tuesday night.

Eliav Breuer and Tzvi Joffre contributed to this report.