Dozens of Jewish extremists set fire to a security installation and rioted outside a West Bank base overnight Sunday-Monday, days after an officer in the Israel Defense Forces was assaulted by settlers.

Members of the crowd held up a sign declaring “the battalion commander is a traitor,” referring to the officer.

A military official said some of the settlers tried to break into the Binyamin Regional Brigade military base in the central West Bank, threw rocks and sprayed mace at troops, and slashed the tires of army vehicles.

Border Police officers used stun grenades to disperse the rioters.

Additionally, Israeli settlers torched a multi-million-shekel security installation used to “thwart terror attacks and maintain security” in the Ramallah area of the West Bank overnight, according to the IDF.

The military said damage to the site “poses a danger to the security of the residents.”

“The IDF condemns any act of violence against security forces and expects security forces to bring to justice Israeli civilians who harm security personnel who are carrying out their duty to protect Israeli citizens,” the military said in a statement.

It added that it “will continue to focus on protecting civilians, while also enforcing the law and preventing any illegal activity, wherever it may occur.”

There were no reports of arrests in either incident. The Shin Bet has opened an investigation into the security installation arson.

The activists who rioted outside the base were protesting the use of warning shots against settlers who ambushed a military patrol on Friday night, which apparently resulted in the injury of a teenager.

They demanded that the military prosecute the commander of the Binyamin Brigade’s 7114th Battalion, who had been attacked along with troops by Jewish extremists earlier in the evening and was not in the vicinity of the shooting.

The Friday night shooting incident occurred after reservists and police were dispatched to an area near the Palestinian village of Kafr Malik due to the arrival of several suspects there.

The area........

© The Times of Israel