Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, on Sunday delivered an unusually harsh indictment of what he described as “a terrible process of brutalization” creeping into Israeli society.
He cited examples of thuggery like a surge of “mob” violence by Jews against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and the abuse of detainees in Israeli custody.
Mr. Herzog, whose role is largely ceremonial, was speaking at an event to award the annual Jerusalem Unity Prize at his official residence. The award was established by the families of three Israelis who were abducted and killed by Palestinians in the West Bank in 2014.
“I wish I could speak today only about unity,” Mr. Herzog said before launching into a discussion of the actions taken by some Israelis that have prompted international censure and, he said, are “threatening us all.”
“There are segments among us that are barely shocked by violence anymore,” Mr. Herzog said. “Certain other segments treat it lightly.”
He warned that extremist and inhuman behavior is being normalized, and even celebrated, by some people on the margins of Israeli society and that such violent conduct was “threatening to enter the mainstream.”
Mr. Herzog also took note of the rise of gun violence within Israel’s Arab minority, which makes up about a fifth of the population. And he denounced the “disgraceful and ugly conduct by extremists against Christians and Muslims who live among us.”
But he reserved particular condemnation for extremist settlers in the West Bank, describing them as a lawless, anarchistic mob whose attacks “defile our home and depart from every basic norm — moral, legal or Jewish.”
And he excoriated what he called “brutal acts” against detainees by “a handful of people who think that detainees, those under interrogation or suspects have no human rights at all.”
Israeli presidents as a rule act as a unifying voice and avoid controversy. But Mr. Herzog appeared to be expressing frustration at the lack of limits placed by members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition, the most right-wing and religiously conservative in Israel’s history.
Mr. Netanyahu himself has minimized the intensifying and sometimes deadly settler violence against Palestinians as the work of “a handful of kids.” Israeli security forces often turn a blind eye to the violence, and in some cases join the attackers in the service of expanding the Jewish settlement project.
The Israel Prison Service and other authorities issue flat denials of abuse in detention facilities despite mounting evidence of mistreatment of detainees, including sexual assault.
Israel’s far-right minister of national security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, is widely accused of encouraging thuggish behavior. He has boasted of toughening conditions for Palestinian security prisoners.
Last week, Mr. Ben-Gvir posted a video of himself taunting detained pro-Palestinian activists while they were handcuffed and pinned down to the deck of a ship. Israeli forces had intercepted their flotilla, which was aimed at breaching Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza. In the minute-long video, at least one of the detainees can be seen being manhandled by police officers.
Mr. Ben-Gvir’s actions drew outrage both abroad and at home — including a rebuke from Mr. Netanyahu, a political ally.
On Sunday, Mr. Ben-Gvir took umbrage at Mr. Herzog’s remarks, which made use of a Hebrew word that can be translated as “bestial.”
“A president of a country who calls hundreds of thousands of citizens of the State of Israel beasts is not fit to be president,” he said on social media. “Period.”
