Report: Israeli Soldiers 'Did Nothing' to Prevent Settler Raid in West Bank
Facts
- The Israeli news outlet Haaretz reported on Saturday that an internal preliminary investigation had found that Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reservists 'did nothing' to stop a deadly settler raid in the West Bank Palestinian village of Jit.[1]
- Neither the IDF nor Shin Bet had intelligence on the incident in advance, according to a senior security official, but a Home Front Command unit allegedly arrived shortly after its beginning and 'stood by' watching the rampage unfold.[2]
- One Palestinian man, identified on Friday as 23-year-old Rashid Mahmoud Abdel Qader Sadda, died after being shot in the chest, as dozens of masked Israeli settlers descended on the village near Nablus overnight on Thursday.[3][4]
- Multiple others were injured in the attack, one of them sustaining critical wounds. Footage from the scene, along with eyewitness reports, purported settlers throwing stones and petrol bombs, opening fire on residents, and torching cars and properties.[3][4]
- The office of the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a statement pledging to arrest and try those responsible for what he called a severe incident, though some ministers dismissed that settlers were to blame.[5]
- According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), over 1K settler attacks against Palestinians were recorded from Oct. 7, 2023 to Aug. 5, 2024 — of which at least 114 caused fatalities and injuries.[6]
Sources: [1]Haaretz.com, [2]Timesofisrael, [3]Al Jazeera, [4]Middle East Eye, [5]Guardian and [6]CNN.
Narratives
- Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by PBS NewsHour. Though settlements are neither the origin nor the cause of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the sitting Israeli government must do more to curb escalating settler violence in the West Bank. The US is always willing to accommodate Israel's security concerns, but Israel must also be willing to work with the US and curb extremism so that a durable peace to this conflict can be realized.
- Pro-Palestine narrative, as provided by Human Rights Watch. Israel continues to show its complicity in the settler movement, which is primarily motivated by the desire to permanently expel Palestinians from their land and dash any hope of a Palestinian state. Israeli raids in the occupied West Bank were brutal before Oct. 7, and now Palestinians are being killed and displaced at an unprecedented rate. Nothing excuses the endemic violence Israelis have unleashed in the West Bank, and the situation is only getting worse.
- Pro-Israel narrative, as provided by JNS. While a tiny minority of Jewish communities in the West Bank, which they refer to as Judea and Samaria due to the region's ancient history, do commit violence against Palestinians, the pernicious myth of 'settler violence' creates a morally abhorrent equivalence with Hamas' terrorism. Since Oct. 7, incidents of 'settler violence' have reduced, in contrast to mounting Palestinian terrorist attacks. Yet, the media is only interested in violence committed by Israelis.