Israeli settler violence in the occupied West Bank has been a known problem for decades. The list of criminal acts committed against Palestinians in the territory is long. It includes setting houses and vehicles on fire, forcible ejection of Palestinians from their homes and farms, physical assaults, and murders. Few of the perpetrators are caught and punished, emboldening them to act with ever-greater impunity.
The settlers look for opportunities to escalate their attacks on Palestinians. They found one with the start of the Israel-Hamas war following the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel. The egregious settler behaviors during that period finally forced President Biden to sign an executive order (EO) punishing the perpetrators. EO 14115 imposed financial sanctions and visa restrictions on individuals and entities who were deemed to be ‘engaging in “acts of terrorism affecting the West Bank,” violence, or forced displacement.’
On the first day of his second term, President Trump issued an EO rescinding EO 14115 and a long list of others that President Biden had signed during his term in the White House. President Trump cited DEI, open borders and climate extremism as some of the reasons for the revocations. No specific explanation was provided for the annulment of EO 14115.
Israeli rights group Yesh Din reports that in the first four weeks of the current U.S.-Israel war with Iran, 257 cases of settler violence or harassment against Palestinians were documented across the West Bank. The incidents, which affected 116 Palestinian communities, are said to have included shootings, physical assaults, property damage, and threats. Six Palestinians have been shot and killed by settlers in that period, according to Yesh Din, which says that it is not aware of any arrests of the suspected shooters.
Cleary Waldo of the Atlantic Council says that “Extremist settler violence in the West Bank has sharply escalated during the Iran war, including killings, raids, and property destruction.” She adds that “This violence meets widely accepted definitions of terrorism despite inconsistent labeling by Israeli authorities.” Waldo recommends that the U.S. should employ one of its powerful counterterrorism tools to label the abusive settlers as specially designated global terrorists (SDGTs). She thinks it is the best way to force the Israeli government to deal with the problem and protect the victims.
Just yesterday, in an act of stunning arrogance and hypocrisy, Israel’s Parliament passed a law sanctioning the death penalty, by hanging, for any Palestinians convicted of murdering Israelis. These same parliamentarians have stood silently by for years while their fellow citizens have gone around killing Palestinians with impunity. The extremists in the Israeli government clearly don’t care that actions such as the one they took yesterday only intensify the hatred that much of the world has developed for their country.
The broader Israeli-Palestinian issue is frequently described as intractable. There is nothing intractable about this settler violence matter. It is as clear as daylight who is engaging in unlawful activities and should be dealt with.
Based on past record, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government cannot be counted on to do anything about the settlers and their criminal behaviors. President Trump has his hands full at the moment. But I pray that when the shooting stops in Iran, he will take a hard look at the glaring injustice happening in the West Bank and address the problem. His rescission of President Biden’s EO has emboldened the settlers.