Israeli settler violence

The settlers also shoot solar panels on roofs of buildings, torch automobiles, shatter windowpanes and windshields, destroy crops, uproot trees, abuse merchants and owners of stalls in the market.

The prosecutor's office had earlier said that some of the evidence against Braude was classified for security reasons, due to "the Shin Bet's sources and methods of operation, and identifying details about its units and people".

The report said "Little if any action is taken by the Israeli authorities to investigate, prosecute and punish violence against Palestinians, including killings, by settlers and members of the security forces, resulting in a situation of impunity.

[51] According to Amos Harel, attempts by the security forces to bring violent right-wing zealots to justice have suffered from two main problems: investigating Israelis as opposed to Palestinians is subject to more restrictions, and courts have proved to be lenient.

[64] In April 2009, dozens of settlers from Bat Ayin rampaged through the West Bank village of Safa, smashing car windows, damaging homes and wounding 12 Palestinians.

An Israeli army spokeswoman said that the violence started when Palestinians threw stones at Bat Ayin settlers praying on a nearby hill before the Jewish Passover holiday.

[65] The United Nations has warned that as many as 250,000 Palestinians in 83 villages are "highly or moderately" vulnerable to settler retaliation if the unauthorized outposts in the West Bank are removed by the Israeli government.

The settlements of Havat Gilad, Kedumim, Itamar, Yitzhar, Ma'aleh Levona, Shilo, Adei Ad, Nokdim, Bat Ayin, Negohot, Kiryat Arba, Beit Haggai, Carmel, and Susya are considered possible threats to nearby Palestinians.

The report found that the attacks were especially aimed at Palestinian farmers and their livelihood in a systematic campaign of violence and intimidation which included the destruction of over 10,000 olive trees in the preceding year.

[12] According to a confidential IDF document for just the period from 11 Sept. - 20 October 2013, the following Palestinian olive groves, near Israeli settlements near Elon Moreh, Karnei Shomron, Kedumim, Ma'on, and the Ma'on Farm, Susya, Shavei Shomron, Zayit Ra'anan, the Gilad Farm, Shilo, and Yitzhar, and all under IDF guard, were damaged, but were not reported in the media: According to Yesh Din, 97.4% of complaints submitted to Israeli police by Palestinians who had suffered damage to their olive groves between 2005 and 2013 were closed without indictment.

[79][80] On 9 December 2007, members of Christian Peacemaker Teams, an American NGO, reported to have observed a group of Israelis stop next to a cistern in Humra Valley, open the lid, and raise the bucket.

[82][83] A United Nations survey released in March 2012 documented the increasing use of threats, violence and intimidation to deny Palestinians access to their water resources in the West Bank.

[87] In December 2009, suspected settler extremists attacked a mosque in the northern West Bank village of Yasuf near Nablus, according to Palestinian officials and Israeli police.

The people forced their way into the mosque and burned about 100 holy books, including Korans, Hadiths, and prayer carpets, and spray-painted anti-Palestinian slogans on the floor, some of which referred to the settlers' "price tag" policy.

[94] The attack came hours after Israeli police dismantled three structures in the nearby illegal Jewish settlement of Migron, leading newspapers to suggest that it may have been carried out by settlers in retaliation.

The Patriarch of the Holy City of Jerusalem and all Palestine, Theophilos III has decried, "repeated" attacks on Christian and Muslim places of worship in the Palestinian territories by extremist Jewish settlers.

[103] Arab-Israeli member of the Knesset Ayman Odeh observes, "Harassment and harming of places that are holy to Islam and Christianity have become almost constant, and no one is held accountable", and directly blames the Israeli government for "leading the hatred and approving, with a wink, the continuation of the hate crimes against the Arab minority in the state".

[105] Israeli settlers were accused by an Arab farmer of having gathered his sheep into an area thick with brush and setting fire to the bushes, burning alive his 12 pregnant ewes.

[115] Shin Bet security chief Yuval Diskin warned that he has "found a very high willingness among this public to use violence - not just stones, but live weapons - in order to prevent or halt a diplomatic process".

[116] In 2008, Gadi Shamni, a senior Israeli commander in the occupied West Bank, warned that the number of violent settlers had increased from a few dozen to hundreds, and that this rise was impairing the IDF's ability to address other threats.

[134] In July 2015, a similar incident happened where Israeli settlers committed an arson attack on two Palestinian houses, killing 3 people, including 18-month-old Ali Saad Dawabsheh who was burned alive, and both of his parents who died from their injuries later on.

[136] On 13 May 2021, around 10 settlers gathered near the fence erected by the Israeli military around a Palestinian neighborhood in Hebron, throwing stones at passersby and nearby homes while several soldiers observed without intervening.

A photograph taken during their detention was posted on the Facebook page of Metzuda – the Security World of Israel, showing the detainees and captioned, "A terrorist penetration incident at the Ben Pazi farm near Kochav Hashachar.

"[139] On 25 July 2024, Australia joined Europe and the United States in imposing sanctions on Israeli settlers accused of beatings, sexual assault and torture of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

[140] On 4 August 2024, a masked settler on horseback arrived at Khirbet Wadi a-Rakhim in the South Hebron Hills, herding approximately 20 cows into a barley field owned by the Harini family.

[148] On 1 February 2024, US President Biden issued an executive order due to high levels of settler violence, forced displacement of Palestinians, and property destruction in the West Bank.

[152] The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs shows that more Palestinians were injured either by settlers or members of the Israeli security forces in attacks in the first six months of 2021 than in the whole of 2020 and about equal to the total for 2019.

Haaretz asked the Israel Defense Forces, the police and the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories for a response to the report's conclusion that violence from the outposts and isolated farms serves the state.

[155][156] Settler violence increased following the election of the thirty-seventh government of Israel in December 2022, which was notable for its inclusion of far-right politicians and support for expanding Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territories.

[159] In November 2023, United Nations officials stated that since the attacks, the Israel Defense Forces and armed settlers killed more than 120 Palestinians in the West Bank, with most deaths occurring in clashes with Israeli soldiers.