Israeli MP defends settler attack on Palestinian women and child

A far-right Israeli lawmaker defended an attack in the occupied West Bank, where Israeli settlers assaulted Palestinian citizens of Israel who had accidentally entered their illegal outpost.

On Friday, four Palestinian Bedouin women and a two-year-old child were travelling from an Israeli city to Nablus in the occupied West Bank when they mistakenly entered an illegal Israeli settlement. 

Settlers responded by throwing stones and setting their vehicle on fire. The Palestinian women were injured and required hospitalisation.

"This isn't an Israeli family," said Limor Son Har-Melech, a member of the far-right Jewish Power party, during an Israeli parliamentary committee meeting.

"Think about it. When a vehicle enters without an Israeli number plate and we know the dangers and threats, then we cannot compromise," she said, adding: "An incident like this could be espionage or intelligence-gathering."

Haaretz reported that one of the Israeli settlers put a gun to the head of the two-year-old Palestinian child. No arrests were made and no investigation was conducted following the incident, according to Israeli police.