'Jewish terrorism' by illegal Israeli settlers allowed to go unchecked in occupied West Bank

Violence by illegal Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank has reached unprecedented levels since the start of the war with Iran, with NGOs and opposition figures denouncing an environment of impunity.

While "Jewish terrorism" has drawn widespread condemnation both in Israel and abroad, little has been done to curb it.

Assaults by violent illegal settlers against Palestinians have been carried out for years, often to the indifference of mainstream Israeli society.

But the recent surge has prompted criticism from influential rabbis and even military chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir, who described the attacks as "morally and ethically unacceptable".

According to Reem Cohen, a researcher at the Tel Aviv‑based Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), "there has been an increase in acts of Jewish terrorism since the start of the war with Iran", along with a rise in "the severity of the acts".

In an interview with AFP, Cohen, who authored a report on the issue in January, denounced the impunity enjoyed by the perpetrators.

"The Israeli government and security forces... have not responded with determination," Cohen wrote in his report.

One of the first measures taken by Defence Minister Israel Katz upon assuming office in 2024 was to cancel administrative detention, a form of virtually unlimited custody, for Israeli suspects of violent crimes in the occupied West Bank. It was maintained for Palestinians.

At least six Palestinians have been killed in the occupied West Bank since the beginning of March in violence attributed to illegal settlers.

That figure for the whole of 2024 stood at five, according to UN data.

"Jewish terrorism against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank has evolved from marginal, local incidents into a widespread phenomenon that occurs as part of a fight for control of the territory and an increasing effort to uproot Palestinian presence," Cohen wrote.

'Ideological support'

Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967. Excluding east Jerusalem, more than 500,000 Israelis now live there in settlements considered illegal by the UN, among some three million Palestinians.

Settlement building in the territory has continued under every Israeli government since the occupation began.

But it has accelerated significantly under the current coalition of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which contains far-right parties and is considered one of the most right-wing in Israeli history.

Since October 7 2023 illegal settler violence has become a daily occurrence, "with the ideological support of certain members of the government", Cohen said, in a reference to far‑right ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich.

During the ongoing war with Iran, the head of the left-wing Democrats party, Yair Golan, accused the government of "supporting Jewish terrorism" and harming Israel's security by forcing the army to "put out fires (the government had) lit" in the West Bank.

Videos posted on social media, sometimes by the perpetrators themselves, show hundreds of young men, often masked and armed with sticks or automatic weapons, entering Palestinian villages to sow terror.

'Hilltop barbarians'

Violent settlers have with increased frequency torched Palestinians' homes, uprooted their olive trees and killed their cattle.

In a recent investigation into these groups, which operate mainly in rural areas near the cities of Nablus in the northern occupied West Bank and Hebron in the south, the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth called them "hilltop barbarians".

Since October 7, illegal settlers have established more than 175 farms and outposts in the occupied West Bank with the tacit consent of Israeli authorities.

Though illegal under Israeli law, these outposts are meant to create facts on the ground and receive protection from the army, according to the NGO Peace Now.

The hardcore "hilltop youth" reject all authority and espouse a theocratic and anti‑democratic vision of Jewish sovereignty over the occupied West Bank, with any means to achieve it deemed legitimate.

According to the INSS, "90 percent of settler violence cases in the occupied West Bank are closed without indictments", and Israeli soldiers, instead of arresting the culprits, at times take part in the assaults.