Speaking at the UN General Assembly last week, Netanyahu dismissed international concerns about settler violence. He accused the media of ignoring attacks on Jewish Israelis and covering “a handful of juvenile delinquents, about 150 in number, who throw stones, who chop down olive trees, occasionally they light some fires.”
According to the Israeli human rights group, Yesh Din, fewer than three per cent of police investigations into settler violence over the last two decades have led to a conviction.
Ziv Stahl, its executive director, said the lack of effective law enforcement was because, “the violence is part of a systematic government policy aimed at pushing Palestinians out of the area and expanding Israeli control over land in the West Bank”.
Netanyahu’s government has overseen a rapid expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank claiming biblical and legal rights to the land. Some ministers have said they aim to “bury the idea” that an independent Palestinian state could be set up in the territory along with East Jerusalem and Gaza. Settlements and outposts are illegal under international law.
Levels of settler violence have reached an all-time high this year, according to the United Nations, which says that since 2023, more than 6,500 Palestinians have been displaced due to settler attacks and access restrictions in the occupied West Bank.
In the same time period, the UN’s Humanitarian Office (OCHA) has logged 6,199 attacks by Israeli settlers causing casualties or damage, external.
According to OCHA, at least 82 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces and settlers in the West Bank this year and four Israelis have been killed – members of the security forces and civilians. At least 23 Palestinians were killed in the context of settler attacks.
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