Surging ‘Jewish terrorism’ in West Bank condemned but goes unpunished

A Palestinian boy looks at a burnt vehicle following a reported attack by Israeli settlers in Jalud village, south of Nablus in the occupied West Bank.

Photo: AFP Violence by extremist Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank has reached unprecedented levels since the start of the war with Iran, with NGOs and opposition figures denouncing an environment of impunity.

While so-called “Jewish terrorism” has drawn widespread condemnation both in Israel and abroad, little has been done to curb it.

Assaults by violent settlers against Palestinians have been carried out for years, often to the indifference of mainstream Israeli society.

But the recent surge has prompted criticism from influential rabbis, settler leaders and even military chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir, who described the attacks as “morally and ethically unacceptable”.

Palestinians inspect the damage in the West Bank village of Deir al-Hatab, east of Nablus, following an attack by Israeli settlers.

Photo: EPA According to Reem Cohen, a researcher at the Tel Aviv-based Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), “there has been an increase in acts of Jewish terrorism since the start of the war with Iran”, along with a rise in “the severity of the acts”.

In an interview with Agence France-Presse, Cohen, who authored a report on the issue in January, denounced the impunity enjoyed by the perpetrators. “The Israeli government and security forces … have not responded with determination,” Cohen wrote in his report.

One of the first measures taken by Defence Minister Israel Katz upon assuming office in 2024 was to cancel administrative detention - a form of virtually unlimited custody - for Israeli suspects of violent crimes in the West Bank.

It was maintained for Palestinians.

At least six Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since the beginning of March in violence attributed to extremist settlers.

That figure for the whole of 2024 stood at five, according to UN data.

Boys stand near graffiti that reads: ‘Revenge.

Death to Arabs’, near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Photo: Reuters “Jewish terrorism against Palestinians in the West Bank has evolved from marginal, local incidents into a widespread phenomenon that occurs as part of a fight for control of the territory and an increasing effort to uproot Palestinian presence,” Cohen wrote.

Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967.

Excluding east Jerusalem, more than 500,000 Israelis no

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