Israeli Knesset Member Filmed Swinging Sledgehammer at Palestinian Memorial Near Nablus

A sitting member of Israel's Knesset is shown in circulated footage swinging a sledgehammer at a Palestinian memorial in the occupied West Bank while soldiers stood nearby.

The footage, which spread online this week, shows Zvi Yedidia Sukkot, a legislator with the far-right Religious Zionist Party, striking the structure in Madama village, south of Nablus. The memorial commemorates Palestinians killed by Israeli forces. According to Middle East Eye's reporting on the video, Israeli soldiers and border police stood nearby as Sukkot struck the memorial, and members of his own staff accompanied him during the incident.

A caption attached to the circulated clip described the scene this way:

"Far-right Israeli Knesset member Zvi Sukkot oversees and directs the vandalism of the Martyrs' Memorial by Israeli settlers after they raided the village of Madama, south of Nablus in the occupied West Bank, under army cover."

The incident was not spontaneous, according to Middle East Eye. Earlier this month, Sukkot had already posted a video publicly demanding the destruction of the Madama memorial and similar structures marking Palestinian deaths in other West Bank villages. The sledgehammer footage appears to show him following through on that call in person, with security forces present rather than intervening.

Sukkot has built his political career on the settler movement. He entered the Knesset as part of the Religious Zionist Party bloc that also includes National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, both of whom have pushed policies expanding settlement construction and easing enforcement against settler violence in the West Bank.

The destruction of memorials to Palestinians killed by Israeli forces has become a recurring feature of settler activity in West Bank villages, but the direct participation of a sitting legislator, filmed and identified, with military and police visibly present, is a more unusual documentary record. Middle East Eye's account does not indicate that soldiers or border police intervened to stop Sukkot or detain him.

Occupation Watch could not independently verify the full chain of custody of the circulated footage but notes that Middle East Eye's report names the location, identifies the politician, and describes the presence of security forces, matching details consistent with prior public statements by Sukkot calling for the memorial's destruction.