Ex-Mossad chief: Settler violence an existential threat, but curbing it could spark civil war

Former head of the Mossad spy agency Tamir Pardo brands the ongoing settler terror attacks against Palestinians an “existential threat” to the State of Israel.

Pardo makes the comments to Channel 13 while touring some of the Palestinian villages that have come under repeated settler attack in recent months.

“My mother was a Holocaust survivor, and what I saw reminded me of the events that happened against Jews in the last century. I feel ashamed,” Pardo says.

He recalls the late Israeli philosopher Yeshayahu Leibowitz, who controversially warned that control over millions of Palestinians in the territories would ultimately corrupt Israeli society.

Pardo says he used to think that Leibowitz had gone off the rails, but after witnessing what settler extremists have been doing to Palestinians in recent months, now believes “there was a lot of truth” to what the Israeli philosopher had said.

Pardo warns that the settlers behind these attacks and the government that has failed to stop them are creating the conditions for the next October 7 attack to come from the West Bank.

Asked whether the issue can still be fixed, Pardo says that it can, but laments the high cost.

He says pushing back on the violent settlers — many of them armed by the state — could spark a civil war, given how well connected many of the extremists are in the halls of power.

תמיר פרדו בסיור בעקבות הטרור היהודי ביו"ש: "אימי ניצולת שואה, ומה שראיתי פה הזכיר את אירועי המאה הקודמת כלפי היהודים"https://t.co/YaQjUeg4iY@baruchikra pic.twitter.com/6E28yObih2

— חדשות 13 (@newsisrael13) April 27, 2026