Make no mistake, ultimate responsibility for the ugly scenes of groups of militia-like settlers terrorizing Palestinians, the civil society activists who come to support them, the journalists who bear witness to these abhorrent acts of violence and, most recently, diplomats who come to see the situation first-hand lies with the Israeli government. It is the government that is responsible for maintaining law and order. As the occupying power, Israel also has a legal obligation to protect the population under its occupation. It has been failing to do so — and not just out of neglect.

Over the last few years, and even more so since this week’s general election was announced, settlers have become bolder, in the worst possible way, in attacking their Palestinian neighbors. It may be that these far-right, messianic settlers, in their distorted worldview, are beginning to realize that the days of their patrons in government may be numbered. They may therefore be making a last stand before a new, more humane and responsible government takes over and asserts its authority.

Unless one subscribes to the twisted belief that it is in any way acceptable to kill or injure innocent people, burn their property, cut down their olive trees and steal their livestock, there can be no rational explanation for such behavior, let alone any justification for it.

Most Israelis with whom one discusses settler violence reject it and are appalled by it. They find it deeply disturbing, first and foremost as human beings, but also as Israelis and as Jewish people. Yet, shockingly, the issue barely featured in the election debate or in most parties’ election campaigns.

Shockingly, the issue barely featured in the election debate or in most parties’ election campaigns

Yossi Mekelberg

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, however morally desensitized he may have become over the years, understands full well the damage these mindless attacks inflict on Israel’s interests, image and international reputation, but for the sake of his political survival he allows them to happen. The settlers carrying out these attacks believe, deludedly, that they can intimidate the Palestinian population of the West Bank into total submission and even encourage them to “voluntarily” emigrate — in other words to displace themselves, paving the way for Israel’s full annexation of the territory. What they are doing is inflaming an already volatile situation and damaging the image of Israel as a whole.

Parties that do not subscribe to this messianic ideology and that recognize these actions as potentially constituting crimes against humanity, should have put ending this violence high on their election agendas. Doing so is essential for preventing further damage to Israel as a moral and healthy society, future peace with the Palestinians and relations with the rest of the world.

The complete breakdown of law and order where settlers are concerned is also an act of defiance against the Israeli authorities. It sends a clear message: the settlers believe they are in charge in the West Bank, while the government and the security forces are subservient to their will.

Rather than asserting their authority, Netanyahu and his Likud Party, anxious not to alienate some of their settler voters and, more importantly, their current and potential future far-right coalition partners, play down the phenomenon, portraying it as the work of a small number of wayward teenagers. If that is all they are, then stopping them should not be difficult. The question is whether the government has either the will or the genuine interest to do so. Worse still, these supposed “wayward teenagers” should not be carrying guns, let alone semi-automatic weapons, menacingly driving motor vehicles or inflicting serious harm on others, including defenseless women and children.

Beyond the moral bankruptcy these settlers represent, their actions directly undermine Israel’s security

Yossi Mekelberg

Much attention was recently and rightly drawn to the brutal attack by dozens of masked Israeli settlers on Palestinians from the village of Abu Falah who were trying to gather their autumn olive harvest. The attackers set trees on fire and hurled rocks at them. However, the incident attracted particular attention because of the brutal assault on veteran Washington Post photojournalist Heidi Levine. While documenting the attack, she was knocked to the ground and kicked repeatedly. Her cameras and phone were forcibly taken from her and her injuries were serious enough to require hospitalization. The following day, masked Israeli settlers also attacked a delegation of European diplomats and church representatives in the West Bank village of Taybeh.

The public and diplomatic outrage at seeing a 65-year-old journalist hospitalized with serious injuries simply for doing her job and diplomats prevented from carrying out theirs were obvious. However, it was equally, if not more, important that these incidents have also brought into sharp focus the daily reality of Palestinians, who face such violence routinely. In most cases, Israeli soldiers do virtually nothing to stop these attacks. Instead, they protect the settlers rather than the settlers’ victims. Only rarely are those responsible detained or charged with offenses.

Some soldiers behave like this because they believe, with little evidence to tell them otherwise, that this is what the highest political echelons expect of them. Others sympathize with those carrying out the pogroms. It should come as no surprise, then, that violent settlers feel increasingly emboldened.

What Israeli voters, particularly those commonly described as the silent majority, may not fully appreciate is that, beyond the moral bankruptcy and degradation these settlers represent, their actions directly undermine Israel’s security. This is true even for the vast majority of settlers who do not support such behavior.

The security arrangements between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, established in the wake of the Oslo Accords, have helped save many lives over the years. Yet this cooperation is now more fragile than ever. The relatively small number of Israeli casualties resulting from Palestinian militancy in the West Bank is due not only to the tireless efforts of Israel’s security forces but also to their cooperation with the PA’s security forces in preventing attacks, with international support for this coordination.

However, when ordinary Palestinians are attacked daily by settlers simply for being Palestinian, and when those responsible enjoy complete impunity, pressure inevitably mounts within Palestinian society to end security cooperation. Such cooperation becomes increasingly difficult to sustain when it appears to protect only one side while leaving the other exposed to relentless violence.

In contrast to the international attention given to settler terrorism and the widespread condemnation it has attracted, the issue remains secondary in Israeli public discourse and the election campaign. A new government, fundamentally different from the current one, will have to act swiftly to rein in these out-of-control militias of violent settlers and put an end to their impunity.

The alternative is a further deterioration in security conditions in the West Bank, accompanied by a long-overdue intensification of international pressure on Israel to combat it.

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

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