‘What has become of us?’: Rabbi haunted from testimony of sexual assault by settlers during raid of Palestinian hamlet

The head rabbi of a modern Orthodox yeshiva in northern Israel writes about his experience visiting the Palestinian hamlet of Khirbet Humsa, which suffered a brutal attack by settlers last weekend.

“I heard directly, firsthand, from a young man what had happened there. From his expression, the blue bruise around his eye and his sorrowful gaze, it was clear he was telling the truth,” writes Yehuda Gilad from the Ma’ale Gilboa yeshiva.

“In that same conversation (with the help of a translator), he described in detail the prolonged abuse they endured while bound. Then, with visible shame, he described something I had previously been unable to believe.”

“I find it difficult, and my hands tremble as I write this about Jews, and yet I will write it because I am convinced it indeed occurred: yes, these perpetrators painfully bound his genitals. Not to mention the humiliation inherent in this,” Gilad says.

“These events recall the pogroms our ancestors endured in various exiles. Have we become like the worst of the nations?” he asks.

“I want to turn to the question — what must be done? But I feel I am still at the stage of crying out,” Gilad continues. “Alas, what has become of us?”

Israeli authorities have yet to arrest any suspects in the attack on Khirbet Humsa. Indictments in such attacks, which have been unfolding on a near-daily basis, are rare, and convictions even more so.

Yesterday, Rabbi Yehuda Gilad from ישיבת מעלה גלבוע visited the West Bank and wrote the statement below (provided in our translation):

“With God’s help, Rosh Chodesh Nisan, ‘a time of atonement for all their generations.’

Yesterday, I went through a difficult and deeply… pic.twitter.com/DzyoyAMy0K

— Smol Emuni US (@SmolEmuniUS) March 19, 2026