West Bank settler backs revenge attacks on Palestinians

A West Bank settler violence dispute has sharpened after a BBC visit to Havat Gilad, where one resident openly defended attacks on Palestinian villages as revenge for the killing of an Israeli security guard. The comments came after a deadly confrontation last Friday in the nearby village of Tal, an incident that set off a wave of settler assaults in the area.

Yehuda Shimon, a lawyer who works with an organization representing Israelis arrested for violence against Palestinians, said the attacks on Palestinian villages were justified. He named nearby villages and said the response should be far harsher than the loss of one Israeli life. When challenged on the racist nature of his remarks, he did not reject that description. He said, instead, that the statement reflected a divine truth and that Jews had been chosen by God.

The confrontation that triggered the latest unrest remains disputed. The BBC account says one Israeli security guard from Havat Gilad was killed, along with four Palestinians and an Israeli soldier. The violence has become part of a wider pattern that many Palestinians and outside monitors say is worsening as settlements and unauthorized outposts continue to spread across the occupied West Bank.

Havat Gilad sits deep inside the territory on several hilltops, with simple homes and sheds visible from nearby Palestinian villages. It was established more than 20 years ago in memory of an Israeli security officer killed by Palestinians. Today it is a loosely scattered outpost, and like other Israeli settlements and outposts in the West Bank, it is considered illegal under international law. The Israeli government has said it would legalize Havat Gilad, but Peace Now, the Israeli group that tracks settlement activity, says much of the land is recognized by Israel as privately owned by Palestinians and that the state has instead designated nearby land to allow further building.

Shimon dismissed those legal objections. He said international law did not matter because the Bible gave Jews the right to the land. He also blamed Israel’s government and army for not doing enough to assert Jewish claims, even though settlements and outposts have expanded significantly under the current Israeli government. He argued that the army should use deadly force more often against Palestinians during clashes with settlers, saying the current approach only invites more violence.