West Bank settler violence is state violence

In his address to the United Nations General Assembly, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that settler violence in the West Bank is caused by about 150 juvenile delinquents who throw stones and cut down olive trees. He added, "Occasionally, they light some fires. ... I won’t stand for vigilantism. ... But that’s what they call settler violence."

That framing is at odds with the assessment of Israel’s security establishment, as well as that of its leading human rights organization, B'Tselem. In August 2024, Ronen Bar, then head of Israel's security agency Shin Bet, condemned the "terrorism" of militant West Bank settlers, who he said were conducting a campaign of murder, arson and intimidation against Palestinians to expel them from their land.

Bar accused National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, as well as other members of Netanyahu's coalition, of encouraging the settlers' actions. Ben-Gvir, a West Bank settler who oversees Israel's police and prisons, was convicted in an Israeli court of supporting a terrorist organization and incitement to racism against Arabs.

B'Tselem titles its webpage on the subject "Settler Violence = State Violence." Its September 2026 report, The Elimination Project, describes Israel’s systematic dismantling of Palestinian society in the West Bank.

The report states: "Armed settler militias attack villages, shepherding communities, farmland and grazing areas using weapons and off-road vehicles supplied by the state." Although "the military is often present," B'Tselem writes, it "fails to prevent the violence and sometimes actively participates in it."

The Israeli government must protect Palestinians and hold perpetrators accountable, and the United States and other nations must pressure it to do so. As B’Tselem’s Executive Director Yuli Novak emphasizes in her plea to the international community: “How much more evidence do you need before you act? Statements do not protect anyone until they become action."