Police recruit settlers for new West Bank civilian enforcement squads

Police launched a new West Bank unit composed of Jewish volunteers from the settlements in the territory, law enforcement announced Wednesday night, a move that sparked alarm from rights groups, with some calling it a private militia loyal to far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.

The quasi-police force — whose stated goal is to provide an “immediate response to terror attacks” until the police and IDF troops arrive — has already equipped over 100 newly minted volunteers with weapons and tactical gear.

The new force alarmed settlement watchdog groups, who warned that the move will only worsen the burgeoning phenomenon of settler attacks against Palestinians. The trend has reached new heights over the past two years, leading many West Bank Palestinians to flee their villages en masse for fear of violence.

The unit was inaugurated in a Wednesday night ceremony at the Tomb of the Patriarchs in the West Bank city of Hebron, during which Ben Gvir addressed new recruits.

He said that 105 volunteers have so far been recruited into the West Bank unit, which so far has squads in the settlements of Efrat, Gush Etzion, Kiryat Arba, Hebron and the Megilot Regional Council.

“These squads represent a departure from the ‘defensive mindset’ and towards a combative, militant and offensive mindset,” said the minister, who himself resides in Kiryat Arba.

Ben Gvir attended the event alongside police brass including Deputy Police Commissioner Avshalom Peled and West Bank District commander Moshe Pinchi. Police chief Danny Levy was not present at the event, however.

Law enforcement said the volunteers were certified with “special policing authorities” after being trained in recent weeks in counterterrorism drills. They were given advanced combat equipment including weapons, tactical uniforms, and protective gear.

The unit’s first branch was established in the Maale Adumim settlement just east of Jerusalem, the city’s mayor Guy Yifrach said in late May.

Organizations that campaign against the settlement movement and the phenomenon of settler violence reacted with alarm to the new settler volunteer force.

Peace Now described the new force as “an armed militia of his [Ben Gvir’s] friends in the settlements,” and alleged that the police were “giving extremists power and support to undermine security.”

The organization also pointed out that following the October 7, 2023, Hamas atrocities the IDF had established “regional defense battalions” in the West Bank composed overwhelmingly of residents of settlements.

Numerous accusations of violence against Palestinians have been made against these regional defense battalions, and there are numerous documented cases of such units engaging in violence, severe harassment and property destruction against Palestinians.

“The experience of the past two years of arming and granting authority to settlers within the framework of the army’s regional defense battalions” has shown that in many cases these are people that create violence, not prevent it,” said Peace Now.

Yesh Din, which campaigns against settler violence, made similar comments, saying that “as we predicted, in the last two years giving guns and uniforms to settlers assists their violence against Palestinians, pogroms in villages, and the expulsion of Palestinians from the lands.”

The organization added that the unit “will increase the harm to Palestinians instead of helping with enforcing the law against violent settlers.”

Ben Gvir, who oversees the police, has frequently touted his efforts to recruit civilians into law enforcement through volunteer security squads.

He has undertaken similar initiatives within the Green Line, but these squads have come under scrutiny for operating without proper oversight and detaining people without due cause.

Last month, the journalists’ union appealed to Tel Aviv police after a civilian force led by far-right rapper Yoav Eliasi detained several reporters at the site of an Iranian ballistic missile impact without clear reason.

Responding to the appeal, Tel Aviv District Police decided its security squads would not interact with reporters, the union said at the time.