In early August, Israeli settlers killed Qosai Mi’tan, a 19-year-old Palestinian from the West Bank village of Burqa. One of the suspects, Elisha Yered, is a right-wing extremist who until recently served as a spokesperson for Limor Son Har-Melech, a lawmaker from the far-right Otzma Yehudit, or Jewish Power, party and a key member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition.
Despite Yered’s current status as a murder suspect, the Israeli far right has rallied behind him. Otzma Yehudit leader Itamar Ben-Gvir, who as national security minister is in charge of the police investigation into the shooting, lauded the suspects as “heroes.”
The killing of Mi’tan, along with the settler riots in the West Bank village of Hawara in February, highlights the forces driving Netanyahu’s coalition. While international observers often view the government’s emasculation of Israel’s judiciary as Netanyahu’s bid to escape his ongoing corruption trial, his extremist allies are steering the government’s agenda.