settler violence

Illustrative photo of a masked Jewish settler with a slingshot in the West Bank settlement of Yitzhar, May 19, 2013. (Mendy Hechtman/Flash90)

The settlers who beat me didn’t care that I am an observant Jew

The settlers of Yitzhar beat me with crowbars and threw a stone at my head that split open the skin. Then they set fire to the olive groves.

By Isaac Johnston October 24, 2019

Rabbi Moshe Yehudai is evacuated from the village of Burin during an olive harvest after being attacked by Israeli settlers from the nearby settlement of Yitzhar. (Rabbis for Human Rights)

Settlers attack olive harvesters, Israeli volunteers in West Bank village

Masked settlers uproot olive trees, set groves ablaze, and beat several Israeli volunteers with stones and metal rods in the West Bank village of Burin. Masked men from the settlement of Yitzhar wielding metal rods and stones attacked volunteers from Rabbis for Human Rights, a human rights organization based in Israel, while they were picking…

By Oren Ziv October 16, 2019

Israeli security forces assess the damage to a home in central Israel that was destroyed by a rocket fired overnight from Gaza, Mishmarot, March 25, 2019. (Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

This doesn’t need to happen: Another pre-election war on Gaza

We need leaders who can talk about ending the siege, about ending the occupation, about equality, freedom, and security as the only solution for both Israelis and Palestinians. By Haggai Matar and Oren Ziv The rocket fired from Gaza that destroyed a home and wounded seven people in central Israel Monday morning, took Israelis by…

By Haggai Matar March 25, 2019

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Munir Suleiman, fro the Palestinian village of Urif, points the a bullet hole in his home, which was targeted by settlers. 'Sometimes they come down with the army, sometimes the army joins later, after the entire village comes out to defend itself.' (Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

‘The entire world knows the settlers have declared war on us’

In the occupied West Bank, Palestinians living near extremist settlements have been seeing a drastic increase in violence. Israeli authorities refuse to take responsibility, while the villagers are left to fend for themselves. By Rami Younis and Oren Ziv This past year was, by all accounts, a difficult one for Palestinians living near settlements in the West…

By Rami Younis March 17, 2019

Israeli soldiers escort and protect Israeli settlers who attacked Palestinian activists in Hebron, occupied West Bank, December 24, 2018. (Issa Amro)

Seven hospitalized in settler attack on Hebron activists

Israeli soldiers reportedly stand by during attack on the ‘Youth Against Settlements’ community center in the occupied city. Israeli settlers attacked a group of Palestinians who were attempting to rebuild part of a local youth center in the occupied city of Hebron over the weekend, sending seven of them to the hospital with minor injuries. On…

By Edo Konrad December 28, 2018

Israeli settlers demonstrate and block Road 60, where two Israeli soldiers were killed near the Givat Assaf outpost in the occupied West Bank, December 13, 2018. (Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

Settlers attack Palestinian civilians following deadly shootings

After a string of shootings left three Israelis dead, hundreds of settlers block roads across the West Bank, harassing Palestinian drivers and damaging their vehicles. By Meron Rapoport Israeli settlers threw stones at and blocked Palestinian vehicles late last week, hours after a Palestinian gunman killed two soldiers outside a settlement outpost near Ramallah. Hundreds of settlers blocked roads across…

By +972 Magazine December 16, 2018

Israeli soldiers look through IDs belonging to a group of Palestinians, Jordan Valley, West Bank, April 28, 2011. (Activestills.org)

‘Israelis don’t want to hear what I have to say’

Over the past few months, Israeli authorities, along with radical settlers, have turned Guy Hirschfeld into a public enemy of sorts for his activism in the Jordan Valley. In an interview, Hirschfeld talks about building solidarity with Palestinians, why his brash style has turned him into a target, and whether things are getting worse for left-wing activists.

By Edo Konrad December 14, 2018

Illustrative photo of an Israeli settler attacking a group of Palestinian olive harvesters. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)

The Israeli activists helping protect the Palestinian olive harvest

For the past decade and a half, dozens of left-wing Israeli activists have come together to accompany Palestinians to their groves during the olive harvest. Despite recurring settler violence, the situation has improved over the years. It had become like the opening ceremony of the olive harvest season: last Wednesday, Israeli settlers uprooted 40 olive trees in Turmusaya, a small…

By Orly Noy October 7, 2018

Israeli soldiers detaining Avner Gvaryahu, director of Breaking the Silence, on a tour of the South Hebron Hills, August 31, 2018. (Nasser Nawaja, B'Tselem)

IDF detains South Hebron Hills tour organizers, days after settler attack there

Israeli soldiers detained senior members of Breaking the Silence and a human rights attorney in an attempt to block a tour of the South Hebron Hills, where settlers attacked six left-wing activists last week. By Orly Noy Breaking the Silence planned a tour in the South Hebron Hills on Friday, as a token of solidarity with the…

By Orly Noy August 31, 2018

A Ta'ayush activist is carried away after being attacked by settlers in the illegal outpost of Mitzpe Yair, South Hebron Hills, August 25, 2018. (Nasser Nawaja/B'Tselem)

‘Spilling enemy blood is allowed’: After settler attack, Israeli activists speak out

Four left-wing Israeli activists were taken to a hospital after being violently attacked by settlers in the West Bank on Saturday. Violence by settlers against activists has grown more common over the past few months, yet it seems the authorities are doing very little to stop it. When I heard the initial reports that settlers from the…

By Orly Noy August 26, 2018

A Palestinian woman and children pass the slogan "Gas the Arabs! JDL" spray-painted on an exterior wall of the Cordoba School for Palestinian children near Shuhada Street, Hebron, October 22, 2012. "JDL" stands for Jewish Defense League, an extremist group founded by Meir Kahane and designated as a terrorist group by the FBI. Baruch Goldstein was a charter member of the JDL, which has designated him "a martyr in Judaism's protracted struggle against Arab terrorism."

A rotten system, not just rotten apples

Settler violence against human rights activists is not the work of a few ‘rotten apples,’ but rather a government-backed strategy that could have dangerous consequences. We should be taking it deathly seriously. By Libby Lenkinski Over the last few weeks, the settlers in the West Bank city of Hebron have ramped up their harassment of…

By +972 Magazine August 1, 2018

Breaking the Silence staffer Frima (Murphie) Bubis is seen speaking with Israeli police after a settler child threw paint on her head during a tour in Hebron, July 16, 2018. (Mairav Zonszein)

Birthright walk-offs get a taste of settler violence in Hebron

Eight Birthright participants who walked off of their trip earlier this week to learn about the occupation were on a tour with Breaking the Silence when settlers began harassing them, culminating with paint thrown on their guide’s head. If the settlers of Hebron were trying to show a group of Birthright participants who had walked…

By Mairav Zonszein July 16, 2018

Israeli settlers and Palestinian demonstrators throw stones at each other, after settlers marched onto the lands of the West Bank villages of Deir Jarir and Silwad where villages were protesting the construction on their land by members of the nearby Jewish settlement of Ofra, May 3, 2013. (photo: Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

Israel’s different responses to Jewish and Palestinian stone throwers

Jewish settlers who throw stones at Israeli forces hardly face serious consequences. For Palestinian stone throwers, the consequences can mean death. In the West Bank, the consequences for throwing stones at Israeli soldiers differ dramatically, depending on who’s doing the throwing. The same act, when carried out by Jews in the West Bank, is met — often…

By Joshua Leifer June 17, 2018