Youths' abduction stirs Israeli sympathy for settlers
Politicians from both the right and the left are sympathizing with the families of the abducted youths in an unusual wave of empathy from the Israeli public toward the settlers at this moment of national distress.
An Israeli government minister who paid a visit this week to the family of one of the abducted West Bank teens told Al-Monitor that he can’t remember seeing such a wave of support for the settlers in years. A leader of the settler movement who accompanied the minister on his visit agreed, adding that the abduction of the three teens on June 12 has resulted in such widespread expressions of sympathy and support that he doesn't remember anything like it in the past.
The minister even expressed his concern that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu might actually exploit the past few days' outpouring of support to even expand further the settlement enterprise in the occupied territories.
