At the beginning of February, IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir publicly addressed the violence perpetrated by Israeli civilians against Palestinian residents in the West Bank, calling on the security forces “not to stand idly by” in the face of “unlawful acts by violent groups” and to protect “uninvolved civilians.”
He continued by saying that in addition to strengthening “Jewish settlement, we are required to strictly uphold law and order.”
Meanwhile, over the past month, dozens of attacks occurred throughout the West Bank, including mass organized attacks in Susya, Talfit, Qusra, Al-Mughayyir, and Mukhmas, where settlers attacked Palestinian communities, sometimes with the help of soldiers.
The fact that the head of an army who is responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of civilians in the Gaza Strip can say this without a trace of irony illustrates how “settler violence” is understood in Israel.
Zamir calls to protect civilians from Israeli violent groups while also supporting the expansion of the Israeli settlement enterprise in the occupied territory, as if the two are completely unrelated.
Violence against Palestinians has long been a part of Israeli dominance in the West Bank. Yet it remains convenient to frame “settler violence” as a deviation of a few deranged fringe elements on the Right, or a mere public relations problem that supposedly does not reflect the nature of Israeli dominance itself.
But contrary to what many prefer to believe, ideologically-motivated violence against Palestinians does not occur despite the state, but rather under its protection.
Yesh Din’s ongoing documentation shows a consistent pattern: Israeli law enforcement provides systematic backing to Israeli civilians who harm Palestinians.
Systemic impunity and state backing
Zamir’s soldiers have long since ceased merely “standing idly by” during settler attacks.
They protect the attackers, escort them, and at times take part in the assault. The Israeli police, for its part, is unwilling to take effective action to properly investigate these crimes.
Palestinians who try to file a complaint often endure repeated attempts to reach police stations located inside settlements, hours of waiting, and ultimately returning home without filing their complaint.
In such a reality, many choose not to file a complaint, knowing the Israeli authorities are not an arbitrator of justice but an inseparable part of the oppressive system governing their lives. Many incidents are never investigated.
There is very little chance of obtaining any modicum of justice in the cases that do make it to the investigation stage.
Ninety three point six percent of the investigation files monitored by Yesh Din since 2005 were closed without an indictment, and only three percent of the files resulted in a full or partial conviction.
Even when violent settlers were convicted, sentences were often lenient, sometimes amounting to community service even for serious assaults.
Given the normalization of mass death in the Gaza Strip and the impunity the system provides, violent, armed Israeli civilians in the West Bank act knowing that the likelihood of paying a price for severe harm, and at times even for killing, is low.
Zamir’s remarks join countless condemnations voiced over the years by Israeli officials who denounce the violence while backing the very mechanisms that produce it.
Yet, these condemnations serve as an alibi as they allow this violence to be presented as an external problem caused by extremists, allowing the state to evade responsibility for this violence and its consequences.
The current government has accelerated existing processes of settlement expansion and annexation through legislation and government decisions alongside support for settler violence, which has resulted in more organized widespread mass violence.
Between early 2023 and November 2025, Yesh Din documented 30 coordinated mass attacks on Palestinian communities in the West Bank involving dozens to hundreds of Israeli civilians.
The attacks left eight Palestinians dead, dozens injured, and caused extensive property damage. In 16 of these incidents, soldiers or police were present and assisted the assaults, directly or indirectly.
These organized attacks remind us of ugly episodes in the history of mass violence, not only in their brutality but also in the mechanisms that enable them and the outcomes they produce.
Lynchings of African Americans in the United States were enabled by officials who looked away, assisted, and at times, joined the mob. Perpetrators were rarely held accountable.
The violence was intended to terrorize Black communities and entrench racist domination, driving millions to flee their homes to the north. Similarly, the pogroms against Jews in Europe cannot be separated from the power structures that enabled them and the aims they served.
As then, here and now, it is impossible to separate the structures of power that enable the violence from those who carry it out.
“Settler violence” thrives in the West Bank because it serves a key state goal: strengthening “Jewish settlement,” as the chief of staff calls it, meaning deepening Israeli control and seizing Palestinian land and resources through violent means while maintaining the appearance of the rule of law.
The hilltop thugs and their pepper-spray helpers act as the state’s subcontractors, carrying out alleged ethnic cleansing while shielding the state from direct accountability for this crime.
Violence against Palestinians is neither an “exception” nor the product of a few “violent groups.”
It complements state actions such as the systematic destruction of Palestinian construction and the institutional takeover of land through the declaration of “state land” or military closure orders.
It is a direct continuation of military violence, curfews, night raids, and roadblocks.
Violence is the foundation of Israeli control over Palestinians, and that violence can take many forms, in checkpoints, on hilltops, in laws, and even in the courts.
Israeli violence, both in and out of uniform, contributes to the realization of goals that Israeli governments, both Left and Right, have consistently pursued.
Condemning that violence without addressing the conditions that enable it preserves the illusory distinction between the Israeli authorities and the violence they produce.
So long as this regime of domination remains in place, the violence will persist, in all its forms.
The writer is a researcher at Yesh Din, focusing on accountability in the West Bank.