Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu referred to the extremist settlers in the West Bank Palestinian village of Kusra as coming from "all kinds of hardships from home," during an interview with Channel 14's "The Patriots" broadcast on Sunday evening.
"This is a small handful of young people," said Netanyahu, noting that the group does not represent the greater Israeli settler community.
He further claimed that the international media exaggerates the issue, but emphasized that the attacks in Kusra are unjustified and "very bad" for the settlement community.
"Let us, the IDF and the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), do the work," he added.
Netanyahu stressed that he intends to strengthen the settler movement in the West Bank, saying that "the dangers have not disappeared."
Netanyahu condemns violent actions of extremist West Bank settlers in Kusra
The prime minister's comments to Channel 14 followed a statement on Saturday in which he condemned the violent extremist settlers after several of them barricaded themselves inside a Palestinian house in the village.
“I strongly condemn the criminal acts of violence committed in the villages of Kusra and Jalud by a handful of rioters who violate the law, cause enormous injustice to the law-abiding settler public, hinder the IDF in fulfilling its missions, and harm Israel’s standing in the world,” Netanyahu said at the time.
He added that security forces quickly stopped the incident and confiscated three vehicles.
The Palestinian residents of the house were present at the time of the incident, with Palestinian reports noting that eight people were injured from stone-throwing.
Shoshana Baker contributed to this report.