SAFA — Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has condemned attacks in which Israeli settlers set fire to Palestinian homes while residents are inside, describing such acts as “Jewish terrorism.”

Speaking Sunday at the Besheva conference, Bennett was asked about attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians and said violence against civilians motivated by nationalism meets the definition of terrorism.

“If someone comes to burn down the home of innocent Arabs with the people inside it, then of course that is Jewish terrorism,” Bennett said. “If it is done for nationalist reasons, that is the definition.”

Bennett said such attacks must be unequivocally condemned, adding: “I don’t understand how this serves the settlement movement.”

His remarks come ahead of Israel’s general election, scheduled for October 27, as Bennett campaigns to return to power amid a highly competitive race involving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud, Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar party and Bennett’s alliance.

The comments also come amid escalating Israeli settler attacks against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, where communities have faced attacks on homes, vehicles, farmland and livestock.

Israeli settler violence has drawn growing international condemnation amid concerns that attacks, settlement expansion and the displacement of Palestinian communities are accelerating efforts to seize Palestinian land and further entrench Israeli control over the occupied West Ban