Rabbi Elyakim Levanon, the Chief Rabbi of Samaria and Rosh Yeshiva of the Elon Moreh Yeshiva, published a message Sunday morning in which he addressed the recent violence in Judea and Samaria. While he supports the residents, Rabbi Levanon condemned the Jewish rioters who have damaged the property of Palestinian Arabs in the last week following the shooting attack near Eli where four civilians were murdered.
“I strengthen the hand of the residents, ‘the settlers’, who live in the shadow of continuous terror, and continue bravely in their daily routine, traveling on the roads despite the shootings, the Molotov cocktails, the stones and the roadblocks they encounter. I strengthen and embrace them,” Rabbi Levanon began.
Turning to the anti-Arab riots which followed the deadly shooting attack in Binyamin last Tuesday, Rabbi Levanon stated that “‘settlers’ don’t violate Shabbat and certainly do not harm the Arabs.”

“I protest the haste with which the heads of the security establishment condemned the settlers, and especially the media, which was quick to blame the ‘settlers,'” Rabbi Levanon declared. “If a group of lawbreakers chooses to carry out prohibited actions, both according to the Torah and all human morality, this does not mean that the heroic settlers should be tarnished with anything.”
“I call on the security system and those who lead it, to come to their senses, and wage a non-stop war on the terrorism that threatens the entire country, and repeatedly harms the lives of the settlers of Judea and Samaria. Deal with the real enemies of Israel, and do not harm the lovers of the people and the land,” Rabbi Levanon concluded.