Gideon Levy, Haaretz, 4/1/2026
The state is behind the pogroms. It is responsible for them – they serve the government’s interests. Its soldiers are always present, but not a single IDF commander has carried out what international law requires – protecting Palestinian residents
A Palestinian man uses a mobile phone to record a
burning truck after an Israeli settler attack in a village east of Tulkarm in
the West Bank in November. Photo Jaafar Ashtiyeh/AFP
These are two common folktales: In heaven, 72 virgins
await shahids, or martyrs; in the West Bank, 70 young men from broken homes are
behind all riots. It’s hard to know which of the two folktales is more
far-fetched.
The second is a figment of the prime minister’s
imagination: Benjamin Netanyahu even told Fox News that the youths "are
not from the West Bank."
Let’s put aside the arguments that broke out over his
use of the forbidden term "West Bank," and ask: Are there actually
any settlers from the West Bank? They all moved there in recent decades. None
of them belong there, uninvited guests in a foreign land whose time there, one
hopes, will be short, and their end will be like that of crusaders, inshallah.
Nonetheless, Netanyahu’s concern for the handful of
youths’ mental health is touching – and fitting for a man leading a government
that has always prioritized mental health. Settler activists were quick to
offer them treatment – the hostels and rehab centers are already being set up. But we’re not talking
about 70 people, 700 or 7,000.
The more accurate figure is 70,000, or in fact, seven
million. Netanyahu’s attempt to minimize the phenomenon and attribute it to a
handful of rioters is a total lie, just like the 72 virgins who are waiting for
no one. It’s doubtful that even Fox News bought it.
The state is behind the pogroms. It is responsible for
them, it wants them to happen – they serve the government’s interests and
satisfy its residents’ wishes. Just look at the fact that they continue,
unopposed.
The blame is shared by the army, the settlers and law
enforcement. All settlers take part, whether actively or passively, and the
riots’ evil and sadism – from mercilessly beating up the elderly to
slaughtering sheep – are unpleasant to many Israelis, but make up a much
broader web of violence which everyone quietly accepts.
Settlers slit the throats of lambs in the southern Hebron Hills, elite paratrooper soldiers carry out a
pogrom in Deir Dibwan that would make the rioting youths proud. Running over a
Palestinian who lay a prayer carpet by the side of the road is no more serious an act than soldiers
shooting children throwing stones. The second is just more lethal, but no one
is horrified.
Behind every pogrom – I have seen the devastating results of many of them – stand the Israel Defense Forces.
Its soldiers are always present. Sometimes they arrive
late, sometimes on time, but they never perform their duty to protect the
helpless victims. It has not yet occurred to a single commander in the IDF to
carry out what international law requires – protecting residents.
The pogroms could be contained within a few days far
more easily than Palestinian terrorism, but Israel doesn’t want to contain
Jewish terrorism. It pleases all settlers and most Israelis, even if secretly,
because it advances the ultimate goal – cleansing the land of its Palestinian
inhabitants.
Have armed settlers ever gone out to defend their
neighbors against the terrorism? Don’t make them laugh.
They see the flames rising from their fields and hear
the bleating sheep slaughtered in their pens. They see the uprooted olive trees
on the side of the road and hear the off-road vehicles that MK Orit Strock
gifted them, precisely so that they would commit these pogroms.
Why do they need the vehicles, if not to trample
fields and run over old men? Since when has the government equipped farmers
with free ORVs? Would a farmer in the moshav of Avivim be entitled to one? No,
because he does not commit pogroms against Arabs.
