Published: 3 June 2026
Last updated: 3 June 2026
Thousands of years of persecution have accustomed Jews to the brutality of others. We know that majorities tend to victimise minorities; that religious extremists use divine right to oppress, that the powerful seek to consolidate territory and drive out the weak.
We have often told ourselves that our historical experience of victimisation means that Jews will never treat others like that.
The past few years have proved that belief wrong. There is a small but growing group of right-wing, religious Jews who regularly inflict terror on Palestinians in the West Bank.
Every week, groups of thugs from Jewish settlements in the area they call Judah and Samaria, invade Palestinian villages and farmland, harassing people and livestock, preventing farmwork, sometimes setting fire to cars, desecrating mosques, and assaulting Palestinian civilians.
These Jewish terrorists have killed at least 19 Palestinians in the past two years.
Saturday’s attack on the village of Madama, south of Nablus, was typical. Madama residents reported that a group of settlers from a recently established outpost attempted to steal sheep from Palestinian shepherds who had brought them to graze on open land. When the Palestinians resisted, the settlers attacked them with clubs, pepper spray and stones.
IDF soldiers arrived and opened fire on the riot, preventing Red Crescent ambulances from reaching the wounded. Seven Palestinians were hurt in the fighting. It is unclear how many were victims of the settlers and how many were hurt by the IDF.
Comments10
anonymous for safety reasons, please15 June at 09:19 pm
an observation. the three of us who submitted comments requested some form of anonymity. to me, that indicates that something is … “not right” … “not safe” to share what we shared in this forum. i encourage a trusted source within tji to explore why we all requested anonymity.
R9 June at 03:06 am
Pt. 5
Factual inaccuracies aside, I appreciate how TJI is encouraging our community to sit with and confront the pain of seeing Jewish perpetration of violence against a backdrop of our own historical victimisation. If we cannot collectively reckon with the atrocities being committed in our name, we will never be able to move away from the infighting that is tearing apart our community and towards reconciliation with our Palestinian neighbours.
https://www.un.org/unispal/document/ohchr-press-release-17oct25/
https://www.btselem.org/topic/settler_violence
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12193732/
R9 June at 03:06 am
Pt. 4
If we’re going to engage ethically and morally with the human cost of the occupation, then we need to do so with accuracy, utmost respect, and a call to translate our moral injury into action. As a community, there has never been a more urgent need to collectively interrogate our relationship with Zionism and how it has played a role in the oppression of and violence against Palestinians throughout history. Most importantly, talking is not enough – TJI needs a call for action. We need more community institutions guiding Jewish Australians about how they can best advocate against the occupation and state violence in Israel. For those new to activism, how can they turn their pain into action in ways that feel accessible? Perhaps the answers lie in joining calls for sanctions against Israel or protesting against Australian weapons manufacturing supplying global military supply chains. Maybe they could join Jewish organisations advocating for the safety of Palestinians. Or they may even opt to attend interfaith spaces and form meaningful relationships with their Palestinian siblings?
R9 June at 03:06 am
Pt. 3
In the spirit of not looking away and confronting the truth, we also need to get our facts straight. Out of respect to our Palestinian siblings, it’s essential to note that the death toll of Palestinians in the West Bank due to Jewish settler violence is FAR higher than 32 individuals. Since you reference the UN as your source of truth, then please be corrected that in October 2025, they estimated that over 1,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel in the West Bank since October 2023 – one in five of which are children.
R9 June at 03:05 am
Pt. 2
It’s also crucial to note that settler violence is not a reaction to Oct. 7 or a new “phenomenon”. Since occupying the West Bank in 1967, Israel has misappropriated more than 2 million dunams of land to build and expand settlement infrastructures. Some areas have been officially taken over by the state and others through daily acts of settler violence. And for Palestinians victim to settler violence and displacement in the West Bank, fixed movement obstacles deployed by the IDF in the form of checkpoints, roadblocks and earth walls create human barriers that restrict Palestinians from accessing appropriate and timely trauma care. This article claims that settler violence has drifted away from being an “anomaly” and towards a “regular tactic”. Does systematic displacement, restriction of Palestinian movement and ongoing state violence since 1967 sound like an “anomaly” to you?
R9 June at 03:05 am
I appreciate that TJI is trying to educate and encourage our community to engage honestly with the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe perpetrated by Israel in the West Bank. This is a step in the right direction. But our words matter and the way in which we frame political issues is central to honest reporting. The IDF and Israeli government are not just “failing to maintain the rule of law”. Rather, the occupation thrives because systematic violence against Palestinians is embedded within Israeli society. The occupation stands because it relies on Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza being terrorised. If we’re being intentional about our language, settler violence is merely a shadow word for what should be more accurately described as state violence and systematic human rights violations.
Anonymous5 June at 08:03 am
I am shocked by the blindness in this article. These settler attacks are not Israel “looking away” or “failing to maintain the rule of law”. These attacks are de facto policy, supported by the government and the IDF, and each Palestinian ethnically cleansed another victory for Zionism. What is the purpose of this article, when there is no mention of the remedy we – Australian jews – could make (supporting sanctions on Israel)? Is the purpose just to feel better about ourselves, and our (fraying) attachment to Zionism?
4 June at 09:48 pm
(Part 3)
“Settler violence has moved from being an anomaly to a regular tactic.” Soldiers I’ve met say they’re afraid of settlers. Settlers are identifiable, as they’re often captured by videos / photos during their criminal acts. The courts refuse to prosecute those criminals, and the Israeli Government closes its eyes and lets this happen.
And we, in Australia, remain relaxed and comfortable and silent, producing a diplomatic slap-on-the-wrist occasionally, and only in exceptional situations.
It’s time we DO something: Recall our Ambassador to Israel for consultation; expel Israel’s Ambassador to Australia; cease all business with Israeli companies; ban donations to Israel-related charities – especially those supporting settlements … something … anything. How many more Palestinians need to be murdered, endure other crimes / abuse, be ethnically cleansed from their lands by the Israeli Government – before we TAKE ACTION ???
4 June at 09:48 pm
(Part 2)
One friend’s house was demolished for the SEVENTH time. When I visited before, the father and I chatted – and laughed – in Hebrew, while we excavated / enlarged his cave “just in case.” He, his wife, and four children live there now. Another house was home to a mom and provided a place women could gather; the mom taught the next generation the traditional embroidery (tatreez): stitches, patterns, colours. One day, she showed us the traditional way to make noodles – hand-made, perfectly uniform, enough to feed an extended family and guests. Settlers burned that house earlier in 2025; it was being restored but was bulldozed-flat with the rest. They, too, live in their cave now, which I also helped extend.
These are not mere statistics; these are friends. I shared tea and coffee with the moms; meals included all the family – me, too – when I spent the night. I visited the men suffering broken bones and split heads from settler attacks.
So many stories, connections, hugs … real people, not just numbers.
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4 June at 09:47 pm
(Part 1)
I don’t know who wrote this article, but it seems written from the head, not the heart.
I’m here in at-Tuwani, Masafer Yatta, and the article reads like “cold fish” to me.
For decades, it’s clear that the Israeli Government doesn’t give a stuff about “rule of law” and “safety of Palestinians.”
200 settlers attacked the small village of Khallet aDabaa – about 15 families, about 100 people, carving a peaceful, shepherding and farming existence in the desert using traditional methods. 5 May 2025, the IDF demolished 85% of homes structures, including toilets, displacing about 50 people, half of them children, destroying access to water or electricity. [ https://www.ochaopt.org/content/humanitarian-situation-update-287-west-bank ] Only the school and three houses remained. [ https://www.msf.org/west-bank-homes-masafer-yatta-communities-have-been-reduced-rubble ] NGOs provided tents for the displaced families, which were destroyed by settler violence a few weeks later. The families have renovated caves, some of which were partly destroyed, and moved into them for safety.
(continued)