The close cooperation between Israeli soldiers and extremist settlers establishing illegal outposts near the homes of Palestinian farmers and shepherds is nothing new. Activists from Looking the Occupation in the Eye documented soldiers on Saturday preventing the repair of a water pipeline that settlers had sabotaged. "These are our orders," said an officer in uniform whose face was concealed by a balaclava. The incident reflects a phenomenon that has become increasingly widespread among young Israeli soldiers.
October 7, 2023, has become a defining event in the consciousness of young Israelis—those who did not experience the Madrid Peace Conference, the peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan, or the signing of the Oslo Accords on the White House lawn. Since Hamas's brutal terrorist attack on the Gaza border communities, many young Israelis have lived with a sense of existential war. Day after day they hear messages emphasizing revenge and the destruction of the enemy, while ideas of peace, reconciliation, and negotiated agreements receive little credibility.
The rejection of any political settlement with the Palestinians, together with a growing attachment to religious nationalism, has led many of these young people to support Netanyahu, Smotrich, and Ben-Gvir, who need offer little more than promises of force and war. Israel's media, education system, and many parents prefer to ignore Jewish terrorism in the West Bank. One reason is the conduct of the opposition parties themselves. For years they have ignored the occupation and the damage it causes Israel, while failing to propose an alternative capable of gaining international support.
Eisenkot opposes both the full annexation of the West Bank and the establishment of a Palestinian state. Bennett advocates the unilateral extension of Israeli sovereignty over Area C (approximately 60 percent of the West Bank), while granting Palestinians civilian autonomy in Areas A and B. Lieberman also opposes both a Palestinian state and the full annexation of the West Bank.
The same pattern applies beyond Israel's borders. Bennett, Eisenkot, and Lieberman support Israel's military initiatives in Iran, Lebanon, and Gaza. Their criticism is directed mainly at restrictions imposed by Washington rather than at the operations themselves. The political cards they bring to the table are insufficient to change the overall picture. The removal of Netanyahu's political camp is not enough. Although current polls predict that they could win more seats than Netanyahu's governing coalition, as long as they continue to veto cooperation with the Arab parties, meaningful political change is unlikely.
Sunday
The Israel Police agreed to pay compensation totaling NIS 624,000 to 13 anti-government demonstrators who were unlawfully arrested and subjected to illegal strip searches by officers from the Jerusalem District Police. Under the court-approved settlement, the police admitted no wrongdoing. The Police Commissioner approved the agreement after legal advisers concluded that the officers' conduct could not be defended. No legal proceedings were initiated against the officers involved or their commanders.
Monday
"Summer Camp" at Khirbet a-Tawil according to activists from Looking the Occupation in the Eye:
"Four teenagers arrived with ten goats. They approached Rafa's home and harassed the family. They then moved to Imad's property, where the fence had not yet been completed, entered the area, threatened residents with a club, spat at them, and shouted abuse."
A later report described further incidents that afternoon: "The teenagers attempted to force their way into Imad's compound. Amir blocked the entrance with his car while we physically stood in their way until they eventually left. Once again we called the police—to no avail. Finally, at around 6:30 p.m., the army arrived: Three soldiers and a female soldier, all wearing face coverings. They listened, drove to the outpost, remained there for several minutes, and then left."
Israel's Home Front Command announced that, effective that morning, all remaining restrictions in northern Israel had been lifted.
Tuesday
Israel's High Court sharply criticized the police for failing for nearly five years, to investigate the assault on Rabbi Arik Ascherman of Torat Tzedek, who was attacked by a masked settler near the Ma'ale Ahuvia outpost. The police had previously committed before the Court to investigate after Rabbi Ascherman appealed the closure of the case, despite video footage documenting the violent attack.
A police representative admitted during the hearing that the only investigative step taken had been a single phone call to one witness, who declined to appear. Justice Ofer Grosskopf gave the police two weeks to conduct a proper investigation, stating:
"This is serious violence that must be investigated, and the person responsible must be found."
Wednesday
Matan Golan reported in Haaretz that the Civil Administration demolished structures last week at two locations in the West Bank from which Palestinians had previously been driven out by settlers. Last Tuesday, a bulldozer, accompanied by security vehicles, arrived in Muhmas, near the settlement of Ma'ale Michmash, and demolished the remaining structures of the Bedouin community that had been forced to leave the area. Some of the structures had been burned in previous arson attacks carried out by settlers. Muhmas was located on privately owned Palestinian land that was officially registered in the land registry.
Another residential structure, built of concrete blocks, was demolished east of the village of Duma at the site where the Ka'abneh community had lived before being displaced.
Thursday
Master Sergeant (Res.) Basel Sweid, 32, from Peki'in, was killed when a military vehicle overturned in southern Lebanon.
The Jerusalem District Prosecutor's Office filed an indictment against six settlers—five minors aged 14 to 17 from Kfar Shammai, Kiryat Arba, Katzrin, and Itamar, along with 18-year-old Pinhas Greenberg from Beit Shemesh—for acts of terrorism committed in the Palestinian village of Deir Dibwan, near Ramallah, on June 14.
According to the indictment, the accused attended a memorial ceremony for a settler who was killed in a terrorist attack near the settlement of Eli three years ago. After the ceremony, they entered the Palestinian village wearing masks, set vehicles on fire, vandalized a mosque, attacked residents' homes, and threw stones at houses and passing vehicles, all motivated by racist intent.
The prosecution charged them with numerous offenses, including arson as an act of terrorism, rioting, aggravated criminal damage, malicious destruction of property, assault, and throwing objects at moving vehicles.
It is worth noting that many residents of Deir Dibwan hold United States citizenship.
Saturday
Khirbet a-Tawil, near Aqraba:
Activists from Looking the Occupation in the Eye, who maintain a protective presence in the community around the clock, accompanied a municipal worker from Aqraba who had come to repair the water pipeline supplying the local farming community. The pipeline had been deliberately damaged by members of a nearby settler farm belonging to Noam Jackson. Jackson and the youths from his farm and the adjacent illegal outpost they established near Palestinian homes reportedly harass the community's residents on a daily basis.
The settlers summoned the army, and the soldiers who arrived prevented the repair work, claiming that authorization from the Civil Administration was required.
The soldiers insisted that they were acting under orders. The commanding officer later presented the activists with a military order declaring the area a closed military zone and instructed them to leave, while allowing the settlers to remain because, as he put it, "they live here." The obvious question was: how can they "live here" when they seized land that does not belong to them and established an illegal outpost?
Once the military order expired at 5:00 p.m., the activists returned to repair the pipeline while settlers surrounded them. According to Palestinian reports, two young Palestinian men were assaulted in the area, one of whom required medical treatment.
Also on Saturday: Settlers took over a Palestinian family's home near Nablus. An armed intruder carrying a rifle was filmed ordering the family to leave while shouting, "I am the owner of this house." Israeli soldiers subsequently arrived and declared the area a closed military zone. In Hebron, settlers accompanied by Israeli soldiers entered a mosque, expelled the worshippers, hung Israeli flags inside the building, and played Hebrew songs. In Qusra, settlers disconnected the village's water supply pipeline. In Surif, masked settlers threw stones at the village, injuring a woman.
