Palestinian family accuses IDF of stealing its cattle and transferring it to neighboring settlers

A Palestinian family in the northern West Bank has petitioned the High Court of Justice, alleging that the IDF seized its cattle and transferred them to neighboring settlers.

The neighboring settlers living in an illegal farming outpost claim that the cows had originally belonged to them, but the Palestinian family says the IDF provided no proof of this ownership when troops seized the cattle from the village of Sanur near Jenin last month.

Such farming outposts have mushroomed across the West Bank with no enforcement against them and they have become hotbeds for repeated attacks on Palestinians.

חיילי צה"ל לוקחים עדר פרות מהכפר סנור בגדה המערבית, אשר מתנחלים טענו כי נגנב מהם pic.twitter.com/7MFTHdclvf

— הארץ חדשות (@haaretznewsvid) November 20, 2025

The Palestinian family argues in their petition filed by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel that the IDF seizure was conducted violently, with members detained, animals beaten and property destroyed.

“Every day that passes robs the petitioners of their livelihood. Worse, as time passes, the chances that the herd of cows, which they raised for years and served as their sole source of income, will be found and returned to them are decreasing. The thieves, or those to whom the stolen herd was transferred, profit,” states the petition, which was first reported by Haaretz.

חיילים עוצרים שני פלסטינים בעלי עדר פרות בכפר סנור בגדה המערבית, לאחר שמתנחלים טענו כי הפרות במקום נגנבו מהם pic.twitter.com/4BoBh0FB0G

— הארץ חדשות (@haaretznewsvid) November 20, 2025

“The feeling of immunity, the unrestricted use of power and force for prohibited purposes, and the complete and violent disregard for the human rights and legal rights of the protected residents, find their purest expression in this ugly case,” ACRI’s Reut Shaer tells Haaretz in a statement. “Instead of protecting the rights of the residents and ensuring public order, the soldiers acting on behalf of the respondents and subject to their authority behave like the last of the rioters.”