Netanyahu: ‘Handful of kids’ not from West Bank behind rising settler violence

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu downplayed rising settler violence on Tuesday, asserting to US media that only “a handful of kids” who are not from the West Bank were responsible for the attacks on Palestinians.

“When they’re talking about it, they’re talking about a handful of kids,” Netanyahu said in an interview with Fox News during his trip to the US, referring to “bloated” media coverage of the violence.

“We actually located it. It’s about 70 kids. They’re not from the West Bank,” he claimed, using the internationally accepted term for the territory rather than the biblical phrase “Judea and Samaria” favored by right-wing Israelis, though he also used the biblical term later in the interview.

“They’re actually teenagers who come from broken homes, and they do things like chopping olive trees, and sometimes they try to burn a home,” he said.  “I can’t accept that. That’s vigilantism. I’m taking that out.”

It was unclear which data the premier was referring to regarding the number of extremists involved or where they came from.

The past year has seen a surge in attacks by settler extremists on Palestinians and their property across the West Bank. The Israel Defense Forces has recorded at least 752 incidents of nationalistic crime and settler violence since the start of the year. The total for 2024 was 675 incidents.

The attacks, which occur on a near-daily basis, largely go unchecked. Prosecutions of Jewish extremists are rare, and convictions are even rarer. Critics have accused the government, described as the most hardline in Israel’s history, of shrugging off the attacks.

Netanyahu asserted Tuesday that there was a “false symmetry” between the acts of those teens and “over a thousand terror attacks” against settlers. “Even if it’s not symmetrical,” he went on, “I want peaceful coexistence between the Israelis and the Palestinians who live in Judea Samaria, which is part of our ancestral homeland.”

When asked about apparent disagreements with US President Donald Trump relating to the West Bank, Netanyahu denied there was any significant conflict.

“I think we both want to see a future in which that territory is not used for terrorist attacks,” the premier said.

“We’ve done a lot of things in that regard. We also want to build a lot of infrastructure there, both for us and for our Palestinian neighbors,” he said. “But I think, ultimately, Israel has to have military control over this area.”

Trump and his top aides expressed concern over several Israeli policies in the West Bank during meetings Monday with Netanyahu, a US official told The Times of Israel, saying they took particular issue with unchecked settler violence, settlement expansion, and Israel’s withholding of several billion dollars in Palestinian Authority tax revenues.

Israel collects taxes and customs on behalf of the PA, and has periodically refused to make the transfers since the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack, with far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich saying the funds support terror. Smotrich has also said he would pursue the collapse of the Palestinian Authority government through “economic strangulation” to prevent the creation of a Palestinian state.

‘20,000 Gazans with Kalashnikovs’

Speaking about Gaza, Netanyahu said that Hamas must surrender its tens of thousands of rifles in order for the US peace plan to advance.

Asked what is complicating the transition to the second phase of Trump’s Gaza plan, Netanyahu replied, “One word: disarmament,” adding that “Hamas committed to disarm” but “refuses to do it.”

While US officials have claimed that Hamas agreed to disarm shortly before the first phase of the deal was signed on October 9, the terror group has repeatedly denied this.

Netanyahu said that Hamas has “got still about 20,000 people with basically Kalashnikov rifles, which they use periodically to execute anyone who doesn’t want the continuation of their tyranny.”

“They kill a lot of Palestinians that don’t want them and they have altogether 60,000 AK rifles,” he said, apparently referring to incidents in which Gazans were executed by Hamas for ostensible alleged crimes including stealing aid, using drugs and collaborating with Israel.

“That’s what disarmament means – got to take all these rifles, take them away from them, and break up those terror tunnels that they have, still hundreds of kilometers of terror tunnels. Hamas refuses to do it,” he said.

Asked if he believes phase two of the Gaza plan can be reached even if Hamas is unwilling to disarm, Netanyahu said, “Look, I think we have to give it a chance.”

“There’s an attempt to bring an international force,” he continued, referring to the International Stabilization Force that would be deployed in Gaza under the US plan. “So far, it hasn’t come to fruition, but we’ll give it a chance. Because if it can be done… the easy way, fine. And if not, it will be done another way.”

Within the context of his comments on the Gaza plan, the premier did not mention Master Sgt. Ran Gvili, who was killed by terrorists on October 7, and who is the last deceased hostage whose remains are being held in the Strip.

Under a ceasefire deal signed in October, Hamas released the 20 remaining living hostages, and was obligated to also return the remains of the 28 deceased captives within 72 hours.

During a press conference with Netanyahu on Monday, Trump declined to answer directly whether he would allow for the commencement of the second phase before the return of Gvili.

If Iran seeks escalation ‘all bets are off’

Turning to Iran, Netanyahu said the Islamic Republic has been trying to rebuild its ballistic missile and nuclear capabilities that were damaged during its June war with Israel and the US.

“We set them back considerably in both areas, but yeah, they’ll try,” Netanyahu said. “I think with Iran, the real issue is that they should accept the fact they shouldn’t have nuclear enrichment capability, they should take out all the material that they’ve already enriched — take it out of Iran, and have inspections.”

Netanyahu noted that Tehran has restarted ballistic missile production in the months following the June war, and said that “as far as the nuclear program, I think they are trying to do that.” However, he added that he is “not sure they have decided to cross the line.”

“We don’t seek escalation. I hope they don’t, but if they do, all bets are off,” he said.

Trump and Netanyahu discussed on Monday the possibility of renewed military action against Tehran, six months after June’s 12-day air war, which began with a surprise Israeli strike on strategic Iranian targets. Tehran responded with ballistic missile barrages at Israeli civilian population centers, critical infrastructure and military installations.

Israel said its sweeping assault on Iran’s top military leaders, nuclear scientists, uranium enrichment sites, and ballistic missile program was necessary to prevent the Islamic Republic from moving toward imminent weaponization and realizing its avowed plan to destroy Israel.

The US joined the attack with a round of strikes on key nuclear facilities and then swiftly brokered a ceasefire between Israel and Iran.

Defends Somaliland recognition

In a separate interview with Newsmax, Netanyahu defended Israel’s recent decision to formally recognize the self-declared Republic of Somaliland amid international condemnation of the move.

“Why not support a democratic moderate country that wants to join the Abraham Accords? I think everybody should do that,” Netanyahu said when asked about the reasoning behind the decision, which sparked a wave of backlash from many Muslim-majority and European nations.

“Somaliland has six million citizens – moderate Muslims. They want to join the Abraham Accords, and I think that’s very good,” the premier said.

“They are democrats, they’ve had elections,” he continued, contrasting that with “the rest of Somalia, which is hodgepodge, has had Al-Shabaab terrorists there, never had elections for, I don’t know, for decades, has had a lot of terrorists coming there.”

Following Netanyahu’s announcement of the move last week, Channel 12 reported that the prospect of ties between Israel and Somaliland emerged as Israel was searching for countries willing to take in Palestinians from Gaza during the war with Hamas.

Another central Israeli motivation for deepening ties with Somaliland is the latter’s proximity to Yemen, access to which would make it easier for Israel to conduct strikes and surveil the Iran-backed Houthi rebels.

The Houthis — whose slogan calls for “Death to America, Death to Israel, [and] a Curse on the Jews” — began attacking Israel and maritime traffic in November 2023, a month after the October 7 Hamas massacre. Israel has attacked Houthi targets in response. The group has abided by ceasefires between Israel and Hamas.

Jacob Magid and agencies contributed to this report.