Security agencies said to push new plan to counter surging settler violence

Israel’s security establishment has drafted a series of new recommendations aimed at curbing Jewish nationalist crime and settler violence in the West Bank, following a sharp rise in serious incidents over the past year, Israeli television reported Thursday.

According to Channel 12 news, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened a special meeting on Thursday with senior security officials to discuss the latest violence.

The network said that Israeli security bodies recorded 752 incidents of nationalist crime and Jewish extremist violence in the past year, 99 of them classified as severe. According to United Nations figures, October saw the most attacks of this sort since at least 2006.

Apart from the most extreme cases, the perpetrators have generally not faced legal consequences.

The military, Shin Bet and Israel Police jointly outlined measures to address the phenomenon, according to Channel 12, including the creation of a special investigative team for severe cases of “Jewish terrorism,” expanded military and police deployment in Palestinian villages within friction zones, and the establishment of 14 reinforced security hubs in areas identified as violence hotspots.

The plan also calls for broadening surveillance networks, installing additional cameras, and increasing enforcement tools against offenders, such as property seizures, fines and revocation of gun licenses, the report said.

The recently appointed Shin Bet chief, David Zini, has reportedly warned in internal discussions that the phenomenon must be confronted “with full force” and through close cooperation among all agencies.

Some recommendations still require approval from political leaders and are expected to be presented to Netanyahu in the coming days.

The government does not seem poised, however, to reverse a decision made a year ago by Defense Minister Israel Katz to end the use of administrative detention — a legal mechanism for detaining people when there is not enough evidence to bring charges — against Jews.

Settler extremists reportedly set Palestinian scrapyard aflame

The report of the new enforcement plan came amid continued incidents of settler violence, including an arson attack on Thursday at a scrapyard in the northern West Bank Palestinian town of Huwara, south of Nablus.

The official Palestinian WAFA news agency said that dozens of Israelis arrived from the nearby settlement of Yitzhar and attacked the northern part of Huwara, where they set fire to the vehicle scrapyard.

There was no immediate comment from Israeli authorities on the incident.

اتساع رقعة النيران بعد إحراق المستوطنين "مشطب سيارات" بين بلدتي حوارة وأودلا، جنوب نابلس. pic.twitter.com/GKTvpVl5Z5

— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) November 20, 2025

It came one day after US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee roundly condemned the surge in settler violence, branding it “terrorism.” His comments came in the wake of a spate of attacks on the Christian Palestinian town of Taybeh.

On Sunday, Netanyahu said Israel “will take very forceful action against the riots,” targeting IDF soldiers and Palestinians. IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said the attacks “cross a red line and divert the attention of our forces from fulfilling their mission.”

So far, the Israel Police has done little to enforce the law against Jewish attackers, with few arrests and even fewer charges brought against perpetrators. There have been a handful of arrests in recent days following a spate of attacks involving well over 100 Israeli extremists, but no indictments have been filed, and many of the suspects have been released.

Settlement bloc backs new illegal outpost near Bethlehem

Meanwhile, settlers founded a new illegal outpost southeast of Bethlehem on Wednesday night, with the backing of settlement authorities in the region.

The outpost, called Shdema, is in its “initial stages” and currently consists of three families, said a spokesman for the Gush Etzion Regional Council.

Council chairman Yaron Rosental said the new settlement is “an important strategic point” that will ensure Jewish continuity between the Gush Etzion settlement bloc and Jerusalem, as construction booms in the area.

The site, which sits atop a hill, used to house an IDF base that was abandoned two decades ago. Since then, many settlement activists have vied to establish a Jewish presence there, despite opposition from Palestinians in the neighboring village of Beit Sahour.

Anti-settlement watchdog group Peace Now condemned the establishment of Shdema, claiming it was undertaken without government authorization. The group has filed a police complaint demanding that authorities probe the regional council’s involvement in illegal settlement construction.

The area was designated around 15 years ago for the construction of a US-funded children’s hospital to serve nearby Palestinian locales; however, settlers were able to thwart the plan, according to the organization. Peace Now said Shdema intends to “choke the Palestinian town of Beit Sahour and prevent its development, as part of an effort to deny Israel the chance for a future of peace and two states.”

The activist group further alleged that the speedy construction was approved to shield the settlement council from criticism, after it backed the demolition of several illegal settlement structures.

Shdema was erected just days after the IDF evacuated several makeshift structures built by settlers in the illegal Tzur Misgavi outpost, at the regional council’s behest due to “anarchy” in the area. The demolitions led to fierce clashes between security forces and settlers, which saw six activists arrested and several officers wounded.