MADAMA, WEST BANK — Knesset member Zvi Sukkot, 35, took a sledgehammer to a stone memorial bearing the names of Palestinians killed over decades in the West Bank town of Madama, south of Nablus, on Aug. 25, then posted video of the act on social media. Israeli soldiers from an IDF escort unit were present throughout.
The Israel Defense Forces said it had approved a request from Sukkot earlier in August to coordinate a tour of three West Bank villages. The military said the demolition of any monument was not part of the agreement.
"Contrary to the agreed-upon coordination, the participants acted deceptively and manipulatively, without authorisation, departing entirely from the approved framework, and began demolishing one of the monuments in Madama," the IDF said in a statement. Soldiers on the ground reported the incident up the chain of command and received orders to halt the activity. The group was then escorted out of the village.
The IDF's formal criticism centered on the diversion of military resources. The military said soldiers assigned to operational duties were pulled away from their posts to accompany Sukkot, placing them at unnecessary risk at a time the IDF described as one of significant operational strain.
Witness video of the incident spread on social media before Sukkot published his own footage. That footage shows Israeli settlers striking the monument while soldiers stand nearby, with a military vehicle parked in the background.
Sukkot defended the act in his social media post. "Every child who sees a giant monument every day that glorifies Jewish murderers, dreams of being a terrorist," he said. "There is no place for support for terror in the State of Israel." In a separate statement, Sukkot said he took the action himself because the IDF had failed to remove the memorial and similar ones in the West Bank despite a prior request.
The IDF said it "regularly dismantles symbols of incitement, subject to all required approvals and in coordination with the Civil Administration," adding that this has taken place "several times in recent months" and that "an additional operation is planned for the near future." The military described those sanctioned removals as "an important component of the fight against terrorism and incitement to terrorism."
Madama is a Palestinian town in the northern West Bank, in an area that falls under Israeli military administration. Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967. The International Court of Justice issued an advisory opinion in 2024 declaring that occupation unlawful under international law — a ruling Israel disputes and has not acted upon.
Sukkot is a member of the Religious Zionism party, part of Israel's governing coalition. The party, led by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, holds several ministerial and parliamentary positions and has been central to policies expanding Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank. Sukkot's act drew no public rebuke from coalition leadership in the immediate hours after the video circulated.
The incident adds pressure to a debate inside Israel over how far politicians can go in the occupied territories under military protection. The IDF's statement drew a line between sanctioned removal operations conducted through the Civil Administration and what it called the unauthorized action Sukkot carried out. The distinction matters legally: actions taken under military coordination carry a different status under Israeli military law than those conducted without approval.
Palestinian officials and rights groups have documented a rise in settler violence and property destruction in the West Bank over the past two years. A Palestinian agency cited a 63 percent surge in attacks by Israeli settlers in the West Bank in recent reporting. The Madama incident is the most visible single episode in that pattern, given that a sitting parliamentarian recorded and published the act himself.
