Israeli authorities have responded to reports of daily demonstrations over the past several weeks involving Bedouin children from the unauthorized hamlet of Umm al-Khair, near the Israeli community of Carmel in the South Hebron Hills of Judea.

Since April 13, when a small Arab elementary school reopened following Israel’s ceasefire with Iran, foreign and local media outlets have been present, documenting claims by Arab residents that children are being prevented from reaching the school due to a fence erected by the area’s Jewish residents.

A Hebron Hills Regional Council spokesperson told JNS the barrier was not erected to block the students, but rather it was put up by local security officials, in coordination with the army, as a defensive measure following repeated attempts by Arab terrorists to infiltrate Moshav Carmel.

The council emphasized that Umm al-Khair is an illegal outpost located within Carmel’s municipal boundaries, and therefore, security concerns are legitimate.

Last year, a council spokesperson described Umm al-Khair to JNS as a “hotbed of provocations and riots over the years,” noting that foreign anti-Israel activists often use it as their base of operations.

The council also stressed that the Arab school is fully accessible, with multiple other routes available that do not pose a security concern for Carmel.

A council spokesperson explained that, while the new fence’s route does not allow students to cross the main road and cut through the adjacent valley, there are several other available access options.

The spokesperson said that the children’s protest is a staged media event in which “camera crews have instructed children to sit in the scorching sun to create a false impression of a ‘siege,’ despite the existence of these alternative routes.”

She added that the events are part of an ongoing delegitimization campaign led by extremist activists in the area, “who are spreading false accusations against the residents of Carmel and the security forces while cynically exploiting minors.”

A staged production

Hebron Hills Regional Council head Eliram Azulay shared with JNS the text and video accompanying a social media post explaining the situation.

In the video, Azulay is seen driving in his car unimpeded from the school to Umm al-Khair. The video shows a timer, indicating that it took Azulay one minute and 10 seconds to reach the hamlet.

“There is no difficulty reaching the school,” he said in the video. He added, “Now it’s up to you [the viewer] to judge what’s going on here.”

In the text, Azulay writes that the situation involves far-left activists cynically using children as extras in a staged production whose sole purpose is to defame the communities of Judea and Samaria and the State of Israel worldwide.

“As someone responsible for this area, I tell you clearly: There is no connection between the biased videos circulating online and the reality on the ground. We will continue to stick to the facts and the truth,” he said.

The IDF Spokesperson’s Unit acknowledged to JNS that students from Umm al-Khair do have an alternative route to school that does not require passing through the area of the community of Carmel.

The IDF said it was not behind the placement of the new barrier, stating that it was installed by officials from Carmel and within the community’s municipal boundaries.

In addition, the IDF said that contrary to media reports from April 13, the first day of the protests, claiming that tear gas was fired directly at Arab children, soldiers identified several Palestinians advancing toward and attempting to breach Carmel’s security perimeter.

According to the IDF, riot dispersal measures were used against several adults who had converged in the area.

“Children were present in the area. However, they were at a distance from IDF troops, and the riot dispersal means were not directed toward them. There are no known reports of casualties,” said the spokesperson.

Naomi Linder Kahn, a director of the Regavim Movement, an Israeli NGO, focused on the rule of law, which has been monitoring illegal Arab building in Area C of Judea and Samaria under full Israeli control for the past 20 years, told JNS the entire story of the school children is absurd.

Umm al-Kheir is an illegal outpost, and every single structure in the invented “village” is an affront to Israeli sovereignty, the rule of law and common sense, Linder Kahn said.

“No matter how many times illegal ‘schools’ are used by the Palestinian Authority to create illegal outposts and annex Israeli state land, the eager useful idiots in the West fall for it, hook, line and sinker,” she said.

Linder Kahn explained that the same tactics had been used at around 100 other points throughout Area C, including Khan al-Ahmar, the “flagship” illegal Arab squatter’s outpost encroaching on Route 1, between Jerusalem and the Dead Sea.

   | Read More JNS.org – Jewish News Syndicate