{"id":24338,"date":"2025-07-06T09:35:34","date_gmt":"2025-07-06T06:35:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jppi.org.il\/?p=24338"},"modified":"2025-07-06T09:35:34","modified_gmt":"2025-07-06T06:35:34","slug":"the-settler-activists-who-attack-the-soldiers-sent-to-protect-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jppi.org.il\/en\/the-settler-activists-who-attack-the-soldiers-sent-to-protect-them\/","title":{"rendered":"The settler activists who attack the soldiers sent to protect them"},"content":{"rendered":"Settler violence stains Israel\u2019s global reputation and also undermines the many law-abiding Israeli citizens who live in Jewish communities across the West Bank<\/strong><\/p>\n

For Jews living in the West Bank, Friday night is sacred \u2013 a time for prayer, family, and rest. It\u2019s the rhythm of Jewish tradition and the weekly pause. That\u2019s why, ahead of Shabbat, the IDF withdrew a unit it had stationed on a hill near the Palestinian village of Kafr Malik. The day before, security forces had demolished an illegally built structure there, and the presence of troops was intended to prevent further provocations.<\/p>\n

But then, just as Shabbat began, a group of far-right Jewish activists was spotted climbing the hill once more. Nearby, a reserve battalion from the 7114th Brigade \u2013 part of the Binyamin Division responsible for the area around Ramallah \u2013 was on duty. When the soldiers, led by their battalion commander, a lieutenant colonel known as G, approached the group, they were violently attacked.<\/p>\n

G, who has served over 500 days in reserve duty since October 7, was punched in the face. Other soldiers were choked, their jeeps pelted with rocks, and tires slashed. These were not clashes with Hamas or Islamic Jihad, but assaults carried out by young Jewish extremists. \u201cThey threatened us that we would not leave alive,\u201d G later recalled.<\/p>\n

It was only because soldiers were attacked that this story made headlines in Israel. Just days earlier, activists \u2013 probably the same ones \u2013 had rioted in Kafr Malik, torching Palestinian property. In the resulting confrontations \u2013 after soldiers were dispatched to control the violence \u2013 three Palestinians were killed. That incident barely registered in the public discourse.<\/p>\n

The truth is that settler violence has become routine \u2013 and dangerously normalised. According to Neomi Neumann, former head of the Shin Bet\u2019s research division and now a visiting fellow at The Washington Institute, there\u2019s been a 30 per cent spike in settler violence in the first half of 2025 compared to the same period last year \u2013 rising from 318 incidents to 414. At the same time, the IDF has reported a decline in Palestinian terrorism in the West Bank.<\/p>\n

That reversal should worry every Israeli. As Neumann warns, the West Bank has remained a secondary front in the war Israel has been fighting since October 7. But if far-right Jewish violence escalates, that could change quickly \u2013 and dramatically. The fragile balance that\u2019s held the West Bank together since the war began may not last much longer.<\/p>\n

Security officials attribute the spike in violence to three interrelated causes. The first is the distraction of war. With Israel deeply engaged on multiple fronts \u2013 Gaza, the north, and Iran \u2013 the West Bank has become a blind spot. Into that vacuum, radical activists have surged, largely unchecked. These are mostly members of the so-called Hilltop Youth: disaffected teenagers, often school dropouts, who live off-grid in illegal outposts and unrecognised farms. Many of them see themselves as modern-day pioneers and reject all conventional authority \u2013 government, religious, even familial.<\/p>\n

The second reason is political. Key ministers in the current government openly support these activists and their ideology \u2013 such as Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who also controls the Civil Administration, which governs civilian life in the West Bank. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, meanwhile, is widely believed to have instructed police to turn a blind eye to settler violence. An outgoing prison warden even claimed this week that Ben-Gvir ordered him to grant special benefits to Jewish terrorists in Israeli jails.<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t theoretical. Just months ago, Smotrich and Minister Orit Strock stood on camera and handed out off-road vehicles, night-vision goggles, and other \u201csecurity equipment\u201d to unauthorised outposts in the South Hebron Hills. The cost: 75 million shekels in state funds.<\/p>\n

This sends a message: not only is the government tolerant of settler violence \u2013 it is, in some cases, enabling it.<\/p>\n

The third cause is ideological. Backed by political cover and operating without consequence, these activists feel empowered to carry out what they see as a historic mission. While their farms and encampments may appear rustic or even harmless, the underlying goal is strategic: to entrench Jewish presence across the West Bank and push Palestinians out. This is not merely a fringe movement with a few violent outliers. It is part of a coordinated effort to establish irreversible facts on the ground that would prevent the future establishment of a Palestinian state.<\/p>\n

The consequences of this neglect are profound. Settler violence not only stains Israel\u2019s global reputation; it also undermines the hundreds of thousands of law-abiding Israeli citizens who live in Jewish communities across the West Bank and want nothing to do with these radicals. They, too, suffer from the blanket label of \u201csettler violence\u201d and the international backlash it provokes.<\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s focus in the past two years has understandably been on existential threats: from Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and Iran. But while the country has looked outward, it has failed to confront a threat from within. The state can no longer afford to turn away from what is happening in its own backyard.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s time to speak plainly: these violent extremists are not wayward youth. They are homegrown terrorists. They must be arrested, prosecuted, and \u2013 if necessary \u2013 met with force. The IDF cannot be attacked by the very people it is risking lives to protect. The rule of law must apply equally \u2013 whether the threat comes from Jenin, Rafah, or a hilltop outpost near Ramallah.<\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s moral clarity has always been one of its greatest strengths. It cannot afford to lose it now. The state was not founded to enable anarchy. It was built on the promise of justice, order, and responsibility. That promise is now being tested \u2013 not only by our enemies, but by those who claim to act in our name.<\/p>\n

Originally published in The Jewish Chronicle\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

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