Don't Be Fooled by the "Settler Violence" Scare

To the delight and with the support of the Palestinian Authority, a group of radical anti-Zionist Israeli NGOs are doing their best to draw attention away from Israel’s moral fight to eradicate Hamas, focusing on what they call “settler violence.”

According to these “human rights” organizations, who receive substantial funding from the EU and other NGOs abroad, the 500,000 loyal, proud, law-abiding Israelis who reside in Judea and Samaria have used the war in Gaza as a distraction in order to carry out acts of violence against Arabs throughout the region.

Unfortunately, their slanderous campaign has taken off as over the past several weeks, with the US State Department, the UK, and France have all issued vague statements threatening to ban, restrict, or sanction Jews living in certain parts of Israel, based strictly on their geography.

These same organizations are amongst those calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, which would leave Hamas in power. If they truly were pro-human rights, they would acknowledge that both Jews and Muslims would suffer further under Hamas’ brutal regime, and that it is in the interests of humanity that they be destroyed.

Cooking the Books to Prove a “Rise in Violence”

In terms of the allegations of a spike in “settler violence” since October 7, nothing could be further from the truth. According to Israeli police, the number of attacks by "settlers" against Arabs in the month following the October 7 attack was down by 50% compared to the same period in 2022.

In addition, last month Major General Yehuda Fuchs told the heads of the Binyamin Regional Council that the accusations regarding a rise in “settler violence” were unfounded. 

At the same time reports of an unreleased internal IDF document regarding a surge in violence were labeled as a slanderous and false campaign by seven members of Knesset. Most likely that document, if it does exist, is based on the fake statistics used by the same anti-Israel NGOs referenced above.  Those organizations include the numbers of Arab terrorists killed in IDF anti-terror operations when claiming an increase in violence. For shame.

Terrorism is the Problem Here, Not Rare Attacks by Extremists

What is clear, is that according to the Rescuers Without Borders emergency medical first response organization, from October 7 – December 7, there were over 1,000 terrorist attacks carried out by Arabs targeting Jews in Judea and Samaria.  This includes rock throwing attacks, firebombs, shootings, and more. In 2023, around 40 Israelis were murdered by Arab terrorists, mostly in Judea and Samaria and in Jerusalem, making it the deadliest year since the Second Intifada.

Conveniently, the mainstream media fails to focus on those facts, while none of the countries seeking to punish “extremist settlers” have delved on those carrying out violence targeting Israelis. The fact that those countries haven’t issued any travel bans against alleged violent individuals from any other countries in the world, but are exclusively focused on a group of Jews in Israel based on their geography, shows how far the bias has come.

The bottom line is that Israel is at war against the pure evil which raped, tortured, kidnapped, and murdered 1,200 Israelis on October 7. That must remain our focus until victory – which includes the destruction of Hamas, the return of the hostages, and the elimination of Gaza as a launching pad for terrorism, per the Prime Minister.  Do not let the myth of “settler violence,” distract you, from those imperative goals.

The Writer is International Spokesman for the Yesha Council