Morally bankrupt Netanyahu govt has lost control of the settlers

It takes some doing to bring a US diplomat who is one of the most ardent supporters of Israel, the settlement movement in the Occupied Palestinian Territories in the West Bank, and the belief in Israel’s biblical right to the entire holy land to come out and call the behavior of Israeli settlers “a horrific act of terror.” The mindless terrorist actions of a group of Israeli settlers against innocent Palestinians in the West Bank village of Qusra led US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee to condemn their actions publicly, finally calling it what it is: a “horrific act of terror meant to intimidate and harass this family,” and adding that there was “no excuse for such thuggish behavior.”
Huckabee could not have been more justified in his condemnation. But it leaves open the question of why Washington did not also act to express its extreme displeasure with the Israeli government for allowing the situation to continue for days without stopping it. Regardless of one’s views on the future of relations between Israelis and Palestinians, or on the political solution to this conflict, no person with any moral compass or minimal political wisdom could justify this behavior. Moreover, settlers who take this course of action are also defying the authority of their own government, which they evidently do not respect or believe they need to obey.
The steep rise in settler terrorism is not a coincidence. It is not spontaneous, and cannot be separated from the bigger picture of the occupation, particularly the worsening nature of the occupation since the most extreme representatives of the settler movement have joined the government. The settlers have acquired disproportionate influence over the decision-making process. They are in charge of ministries that have a direct, and, in their case, deeply harmful, impact on the lives of Palestinians in the West Bank. It is fair to point out that the number of people directly involved in acts of violence is relatively small. But the same can be said about terrorism elsewhere in the world. The question is: Where are those who are not directly involved in the violence? Why are they not stopping it and condemning it without excuses or making exceptions? 

The steep rise in settler terrorism is not a coincidence.

Yossi Mekelberg

Instead, there are now billboards erected in the West Bank by settlers and their supporters that unashamedly proclaim: “Making History! Redeeming Areas A and B.” We should at least acknowledge their honesty about their ill intentions. Area A, which makes up about 18 percent of the West Bank, is supposed to be under the complete control of the Palestinian Authority. Area B, comprising another 22 percent of the territory, was, according to the 1993 Israeli-Palestinian agreements, to be administered by the Palestinian Authority with shared security control with Israel. For those settlers who put these posters up, the entire West Bank belongs to Israel; any sign of Palestinian autonomy, let alone independence or sovereignty, must be reversed.
Israel as a whole, and the settler community in particular, can no longer hide behind the claim that this is merely a very small group among them. These people did not come out of nowhere. The Israeli military could have declared the area a closed military zone and not waited for days, and then removed the violent settlers from the West Bank indefinitely, which has not happened. A military and security establishment that prides itself on being able to reach almost any point in the Middle East and pinpoint targets in the face of extreme adversity, while also using unnecessary brutality against even unarmed forms of Palestinian resistance, looks remarkably ordinary, or, more accurately, reluctant when it comes to stopping groups of settler hooligans.
These groups take the liberty to trespass on Palestinian land, seize parts of it, steal livestock, chop down trees, set cars on fire, and carry out arson attacks against houses and vehicles. There have also been dozens of cases in which Palestinians have been shot dead by settlers. The Israeli security forces, as representatives of the occupying power, have an obligation to protect the well-being of all those who live in the West Bank, without delay and without favoritism. Instead, footage emerged showing soldiers joining the attackers in prayers outside the besieged village, sending a message, intentionally or inadvertently, that they are on the settlers’ side.
It took nearly a week for a UN team to reach the Palestinian families who had been trapped in Qusra, and deliver water, food, medicines, hygiene items, and recreational kits for children. Yet three Palestinian families in the village remained surrounded by a heavy presence of Israeli forces and settlers, both of which caused deep fear among local residents, who were also left without water or electricity. For any reasonable Israeli government, stopping this event, in the midst of Israel being globally condemned for its human rights record, should have been an obvious course of action.
Other settlers, especially those from settlements expected to remain under Israeli sovereignty in a future peace agreement, also could have taken the opportunity to distance themselves from those who establish so-called ranches without government permission and who are, therefore, considered illegal even under Israeli law, at least in theory. They could have expressed their support for their Palestinian neighbors, whose only “crime” is being Palestinians and being inconvenient to the settlers’ messianic ideology of Greater Israel.
Ultimately, responsibility for this situation lies with the Israeli government. On the eve of a general election, when pandering to the right-wing base is the norm, Defense Minister Israel Katz’s announcement that he had instructed the Israeli military to submit, within two weeks, a plan to transfer responsibility for civilian enforcement in the West Bank to the Israeli police was immediately seized on by far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who oversees the police. He called it “a significant step toward Israeli sovereignty” in the West Bank.
If the situation is not bad enough already, imagine the consequences of handing law and order over to Ben-Gvir, who was reported to have said only earlier this week: “I think targeted assassinations should be carried out in Gaza, taking down 30 to 40 every night. Not just those who pose an immediate threat — there are people there who are not worthy of life. They shouldn’t live. They’re not even people.” He does not appear to have a much higher opinion of Palestinians in the West Bank. A statement such as this alone should have barred him from running in an election or holding any official position. Putting him in charge of security in the West Bank would be nothing short of criminal.
Throughout all this, a weak Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears more interested in political intrigues and in again manipulating the political system in order to remain in power. His failure to halt the terrorization of Palestinians is a sign of moral bankruptcy, and causes immeasurable damage to Israel’s interests and image around the world.

• Yossi Mekelberg is a professor of international relations and an associate fellow of the MENA Program at Chatham House.
X: @YMekelberg