Netanyahu slams ‘extremist’ Israeli West Bank settlers

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed he would deal with the violent “handful of extremists” among Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, following clashes and another attack on Monday.

Homes and vehicles in a Palestinian village were torched and vandalized on Monday evening, hours after members of the so-called Hilltop Youth movement clashed with security forces dismantling an illegal settler outpost.

Violence in the West Bank has soared since the Hamas attack on Israel triggered the Gaza war in October 2023.

In recent weeks, attacks attributed to Israeli settlers, notably those living in outposts, have multiplied in the West Bank, targeting Palestinians and sometimes Israeli soldiers.

“I view with great severity the violent riots and the attempt by a handful of extremists to take the law into their own hands,” Netanyahu said, calling the perpetrators “a group that does not represent” Israeli settlers in the Palestinian territory.

“I call on the law enforcement authorities to deal with the rioters to the fullest extent of the law,” he said in a statement.

“I intend to deal with this personally, and convene the relevant ministers as soon as possible to address this serious phenomenon.”

Netanyahu said the Israeli military and security forces would continue to act firmly to maintain order.

Israeli security forces were deployed in their hundreds on Monday morning to evacuate and demolish the illegal Israeli settler outpost of Tzur Misgavi in the Gush Etzion area, near the Palestinian town of Sair.

They fired tear gas and stun grenades as they clashed with extremist settler activists, whose goal is to evict Palestinian residents and establish settlements in the West Bank without government approval.

Hours later, the Israeli military said it had been dispatched alongside police to the nearby Palestinian village of Jab’a following reports of “dozens of Israeli civilians who set fire to and vandalized homes and vehicles.”

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid said: “The riot of the Hilltop Youth in the village of Jab’a is another stage in the escalating violence.”

The United Nations said October had been the worst month for West Bank settler violence since it began recording incidents in 2006, with 264 attacks that caused casualties or property damage.

Almost none of the perpetrators have been held to account by the Israeli authorities.