The Yesha Council, an organization that represents Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, has joined many in the government, including Jewish Home party Chairman Naftali Bennett, in defending the Israel Security Agency (ISA) against accusations of torture and mistreatment of Jewish suspects in this past July’s Duma arson attack.

“We are supporting the security authorities in their quest to find the guilty parties in the Duma murders,” said Yesha Council CEO Yigal Dilmoni to Tazpit Press Service (TPS). “A dangerous group exists that is determined to cause damage to the state [of Israel] and we need the Israeli government to stop them.”

“We saw statements written by a certain organization that included the desire to destroy the State of Israel and we obviously strongly object to that,” Dilmoni told TPS.

Certain activists who strongly support the expansion of Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria have staunchly challenged the legitimacy of the Israeli government following its implementation of “settlement freezes” and destruction of Jewish communities, such as during the Disengagement in 2005.

Dilmoni made it clear to TPS that his organization still strongly views itself as representing normative members of the State of Israel. “The Jewish population of Judea and Samaria is a normative population and a community that is part of the State of Israel,” Dilmoni stressed. “We are law-abiding citizens of the State of Israel and we have Jewish values and morals that stand against murder and other violent acts.”

Many Israelis have taken to the streets in the past week to protest the ISA’s alleged torture and mistreatment of the suspects as they did on Sunday night when attempts were made to block the entrance to Jerusalem at the Chords Bridge.

“Israel’s security establishment is a necessity and even if we have criticism of it, we must know how to express it correctly,” argued Dilmoni to TPS.

“Whoever wants to protest has the right to protest,” Dilmoni continued. “We are not attending these protests and we don’t believe it is the way to act or behave towards the ISA and other security forces that are ultimately protecting us.”

Dilmoni was also asked to address the possibility that the ISA did in fact mistreat the suspects. “There are mishaps and mistakes that are made sometimes that of course need to be corrected and dealt with,” Dilmoni told TPS.

Dilmoni condemned vigilantism and said to TPS that “we are an organization of law-abiding citizens that supports the Israeli security authorities in their struggle and battle against terrorism and the killing of innocents and we are happy that the Duma suspects are being brought to justice.”