During his resignation speech on Monday from his position as chief commander of IDF troops in the West Bank, Yehuda Fuchs told the crowd that the country's leadership did not see what he and the local commanders saw.
Fuchs, who has completed his three-year stint as commander of IDF troops in the West Bank, is being replaced by Maj.-Gen. Avi Bluth.
Fuchs told the crowd: "To my great disappointment, in the last few months as well as in the last week, nationalist crime has reared its head, and under the auspices of war and the desire for revenge, it has sown chaos and fear in Palestinian residents who did not pose any threat."
"Unfortunately, the local and spiritual leadership mostly did not see the threat as we did. The leadership is discouraged and does not find the strength to come out openly and act according to the Jewish values that they are educating their children on."
"Even if the perpetrators [of violence] are a minority, those who remain silent in the face of their crimes do not exclude the perpetrators and their actions from the public, thereby introducing criticism towards everyone."
"This is not Judaism to me. At least not the one I grew up with in my father and mother's house. This is not the way of the Torah. It is about adopting the enemy's tactics and walking in his rules. It was my responsibility to act. And here, too, unfortunately, I didn't always succeed."
Right-wing condemnations
Right-wing figures were quick to condemn Fuchs for saying he was sowing unnecessary fear and called the words "alarming and dangerous."
One of the detractors was Religious Zionist Party MK Zvi Sukkot, who welcomed the change in leadership, saying, "Goodbye and see you never."
Otzma Yehudit MK Limor Son Har-Melech claimed that Fuchs had endangered security in the West Bank and was "completely disconnected from reality."
She also said that violent settlers were "protecting their homeland from an Arab takeover" and that the real threat came from Arabs.
A former spokesperson for Son Har-Melech was arrested last August on suspicion of being involved in a violent clash which led to the death of a Palestinian.
צה״ל הפסיד היום מפקד ערכי ואמיץ, יהודה פוקס. פוקס הקדיש את 37 השנים האחרונות לביטחון מדינת ישראל, ועשה זאת תוך שהוא משלם מחיר אישי כבד, במיוחד בתפקידו האחרון כמפקד פיקוד מרכז, תפקיד שחושף את כל מי ששירת בו בשנים האחרונות להסתה קשה וחמורה מצד מתנחלים אלימים ושלוחיהם בממשלה… pic.twitter.com/WQ61dyoUJg
— Merav Michaeli מרב מיכאלי (@MeravMichaeli) July 8, 2024
Merav Michaeli conversely praised Fuchs, calling him "a moral and courageous commander" and praising him for calling out the lack of leadership in preventing settler violence.