West Bank: Israeli settlers and soldiers are one system, not isolated extremists

For years, the world has called it "settler violence." This description is wrong, and it hides the truth. A new report from B'Tselem, an Israeli human rights group, says armed settlers in the West Bank are not rogue extremists. They are part of a state system. The goal: make life impossible for Palestinians and push them off their land. The report calls this the "elimination project." Since October 7, 2023, the line between settlers and the state has almost disappeared. Israel recruited thousands of settlers into armed "emergency squads" and gave them military training and weapons. Settlement security chiefs now have official power to stop and search Palestinians. The government also made it easier to get a gun license. The result: more than 700 settler attacks in the six months after October 7. In nearly half, the attackers wore uniforms. Settlers, soldiers, police and armed settler militias often act as one force. Settlers attack with state-issued weapons. Soldiers watch, or join in. The army blocks roads or shoots at Palestinians trying to defend their homes. Israel also uses a cheaper tool to take land: small settler farms. With public money, police support and military backing, these farms slowly seize territory. First, Palestinian shepherds lose access to their land. Then their crops and flocks are damaged. Then come threats and violence. No formal expulsion order is needed. The state simply makes life impossible, and people leave. After they go, roads, caravans and new farms appear. Since October 2023, 66 Palestinian communities have been forced out this way. Those who attack Palestinians face almost no consequences. Yesh Din, an Israeli rights group, found that of 1,750 police cases opened against settlers for attacks on Palestinians between 2005 and 2025, only 6.7% led to charges. Just 3% ended in a conviction. This impunity is not a side effect. It is what keeps the system working. The report says Europe must face a hard truth. Treating Israel as the force that should stop settler violence is a fiction that fuels the violence. The problem is not a state that cannot control extremists. It is a state that arms, funds, informs and protects them. As B'Tselem puts it: the armed settler and the state are not on opposite sides. They are parts of the same machine.