Court indicts activist for Amona incitement

A right-wing activist from Mevaseret Zion was indicted in the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court on Monday for allegedly using a WhatsApp group to incite to violence against security forces who would try to evacuate Amona. WhatsApp is an application used for voice, text and video messages.

Due to free speech issues involving the indictment filed by the Jerusalem District Attorney’s Office, Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit personally approved the indictment against 25-year-old David Oved.

Following the High Court of Justice’s order to evacuate Amona on December 25 (later superseded by a deal with residents to evacuate peacefully in exchange for a 45-day extension and other promises), Oved sent WhatsApp messages to the “Atzorei Zion – Hafirot 24” group and another group, that called for or praised violence against security forces who would carry out the evacuation.

On December 11, Oved sent a message criticizing the Amona residents who asked supporters not to physically fight the evacuation.

He said, “According to our understanding, there is no chance of saving Amona if the struggle uses this method, and this will also fail to create a trauma” which could deter future evacuations.

Oved sent messages urging pressure Amona be placed on residents to change their minds “and to return to their original position,” noting “we already had Gush Katif.”

He wrote on December 11: “But we still need to show the cursed Zionists that they cannot do whatever they want and have things go quietly,” using ‘Zionist’ as a negative term for government security forces who would evacuate the settlement.

“In this Amona there need to be injured persons, but only on the side of the cursed Zionists,” he added.

One member of the group responded, “We need to kill all of them.”

Oved also used gun imagery and called for fighting with “no mercy.”