Yair Netanyahu spread unfounded conspiratorial claims by stating he hoped “there was no Israeli involvement” in the wildfires that have continued to tear through the landscape on Wednesday.
"Something is suspicious here... The Kaplanist left has been in a frenzy in recent weeks trying to cancel the Independence Day celebrations and the torchlight ceremony," he wrote.
"I really hope that the arson attacks came only from the Arabs, without cooperation from our people..."
He later deleted the post, saying that people should "go back to the dictionary to look up the word incitement."
אני רואה שיש כאלה שצריכים לחזור למילון לחיפוש המילה הסתה. כולל כמה עיתונאים ״ימנים״ אכולי רגשי נחיתות מול השמאל. הסתה זה - לקרוא לאנשים לרצוח או לפגוע באדם מסוים או קבוצה מסוימת. מה שהשמאל וקפלן עושה לראש הממשלה , משפחתו , לימין, לחרדים, מתנחלים וכו כבר שנים ללא הפסקה.
— Yair Netanyahu (@YairNetanyahu) April 30, 2025
"Incitement is calling on people to murder or harm a particular person or group. What the left and Kaplan have been doing to the prime minister, his family, the right, the ultra-Orthodox, settlers, etc., for years without a break," he wrote.
Arab media calls to burn Jerusalem, West Bank
Earlier today, Hamas posted a message encouraging Palestinians to "burn whatever you can of groves, forests, and settler homes," on Telegram on Wednesday.
"Youth of the West Bank, youth of Jerusalem, and those inside Israel, set their cars ablaze... Gaza awaits the revenge of the free," the terrorist organization wrote.
On social media, the fires were also branded as “Flames of the Flood,” echoing Hamas’s name for the October 7th massacre, “Flood of Al-Aqsa”.
Palestinian news channel “Akhbar Filastin” tweeted on their X account (112,000 followers): “A call to the revolutionary youth and all the heroes of the West Bank.. Settlers' homes and the surrounding areas are your target. Burn them with your Molotov cocktails and set fire to the grass near the settlement outposts.”
While the Telegram channel Jenin News (320,000 followers) wrote: “Calls from youth to burn forests close to the raped (lands)... The (Zionist) entity is burning! This is an opportunity for you to increase the fires, the youth of Jerusalem and the occupied interior, raise your spirits and make up your mind, their settlements, set them ablaze.”
Some channels even cursed at the Palestinian Authority for offering Israel to help with “the fires of the settlers near the settlements of Al-Quds,” also adding: “heroes of the West Bank and Jerusalem - this is your day. Exploit these fires and make them grow larger. Gasoline and a spark can make the entity a fiery hell. The settlements and their forests are your targets.”
Ohad Merlin contributed to this report.