** Bottom Line Up Front
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* Settler violence against Palestinian communities in the West Bank has intensified since the start of the Iran War.
* While official Israeli statements have condemned certain instances of settler violence, the far-right government has expanded settlements into contested areas, and reports point to no legal persecution of fatal settler violence by Israeli authorities since 2020.
* Internationally, states have sought to curb settler violence through sanctions on settler leaders and have warned against construction contractors working on illegal settlements.
* With the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) fighting on multiple fronts, local reserve units consisting of settlers may increasingly be drawn upon in security roles in the West Bank, further exacerbating the problem of violence.
Since the start (https://www.btselem.org/ota) of the Iran War, violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank has resurged, with various residential areas, agricultural fields, and critical infrastructure sites demolished over the last few months, and multiple confirmed cases of Israeli settlers killing Palestinians noted across the West Bank. Occupied by Israel’s military since the 1967 Six-Day War, this territory houses hundreds of settlements as well as informal outposts by settlers seeking to expand Israeli presence in the West Bank, illegal under international law, including Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention that stipulates individual or mass forcible transfers and deportations of protected civilians from occupied territories are strictly forbidden. At present, roughly 500,000 Israelis live in the West Bank, and three million Palestinians reside in the territory under Israeli military occupation, where movement is heavily restricted by military checkpoints
and permits needed to travel between cities. Israel’s official position is that the West Bank and Gaza are not occupied territories and instead are disputed because they “were not under the legitimate and recognized sovereignty of any state prior to the Six-Day War.” Home expulsions, demolitions, and dispossession have accelerated in recent months, with B’Tselem (https://acleddata.com/report/
between the U.S., Iran, and Israel continues to mount, creating a greater risk of settler violence.
A report (https://www.un.org/unispal/wp
suspects until police arrive at the scene.” In the past, the IDF has indeed been involved in clearing certain illegal Israeli settlements, including the Sa-Nur settlement in 2005. Though some of these clearings have been reversed as Israel’s political landscape has evolved with Sa-Nur recently reopening (https://www.timesofisrael.com
According to the UN-appointed commission, “Israeli authorities: (a) failed to take reasonable measures to prevent foreseeable attacks; (b) failed to properly and effectively investigate and punish the perpetrators of the attacks, thereby maintaining impunity; (c) permitted and enabled settler attacks, including through army support and the provision of weapons and financial support to settlers; and (d) shifted blame onto Palestinians.” In some cases, the IDF has stood by as settlers and individuals living in outposts attack Palestinian residents or participate (https://www.yesh-din.org/en/s
reality. In practice, this means that a Palestinian resident of the West Bank and an Israeli settler who are accused of a same crime face different interrogations, trials, and punishments. In general, the military law in the occupied territories means that the Israeli military commander holds supreme legislative, judicial, and executive authority and issues to binding commands.
The issue of settler violence has taken on a more urgent dimension since the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks in Israel that killed more than 1,195, of which at least 830 were civilians, injured more than 4,800, and saw 251 individuals abducted and held hostage. In the immediate aftermath of this large-scale terrorist attack, groups of settlers in the West Bank commenced a violent intimidation campaign against Palestinian civilians, often seeking to demolish sources of livelihoods that prevent communities from returning, including stores and agricultural fields in rural communities. According to Yesh Din (https://s3.eu-west-1.amazonaw
harvesters trying to reach their lands, including in the presence of IDF soldiers. According to the UN, 2025 (https://www.un.org/unispal/do
Prior to the October 7 attacks, and before attention shifted to Gaza, the current government under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was heavily criticized both internationally and domestically for the actions (https://thesoufancenter.org/i
accountability and the failure to pursue legal action against perpetrators, even in the most egregious cases. The Guardian analyzed (https://www.theguardian.com/w
Internationally, states have condemned the violence, and, increasingly, sanctions are being leveraged to address it. However, this will likely yield more symbolic gains than any actual prevention of further expansion of violence. This week, Australia, Canada, France, New Zealand, Norway, and the United Kingdom have imposed coordinated sanctions targeting entities and individuals accused of financing and enabling settler violence in the occupied West Bank. France has also imposed a travel ban on multiple leaders of settler organizations, as well as Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who was one of Netanyahu’s early controversial ministerial appointments made to help secure parliamentary power. He has long been a vocal supporter of a “Greater Israel” that would see the West Bank permanently annexed and, most recently, announced the construction of more than 2,162 new homes for Israelis in the occupied West Bank.
The settler violence issue has become closely intertwined with state-sanctioned policy, making the means to counteract it difficult. Internationally, the focus has thus remained on issuing travel bans against Israeli politicians who seek to annex the West Bank and on companies profiting from the expansion of settlements. In May, multiple countries warned that contractors planning to bid on a tender to construct 3,401 housing units would risk legal and reputational repercussions. This collective effort to impose punitive financial penalties against the settlers reflects a growing concern amongst external actors over the role that escalating settler violence can play in not only escalating the conflict between Israel and its regional neighbors but also spoiling future chances for long-term peace.
Within Israel and the global Jewish diaspora, prominent voices have called (https://www.ljs.org/1000rabbi
Much of the security in the West Bank falls under the police, which is currently led by Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, another one of Netanyahu’s controversial ministerial appointments. Ben-Gvir was convicted by Israeli courts in his early political career of incitement to racism and supporting a terrorist group: Kach (https://en.idi.org.il/israeli
authorities and the civilian sphere. Without effective accountability, and with continued regional escalation since October 2023, we can expect an increase in incidents and the human toll of settler violence.