10 settler rabbis warn against ‘violence of any sort,’ amid attacks on Palestinians

A group of 10 prominent rabbis from the northern West Bank have issued a public statement stating their opposition to violence and warning that irresponsible behavior could endanger the larger settlement project.

The letter — dated February 8, but made public on Monday — emphasized the rabbis’ full support for establishing new outposts in the region, so long as it’s done in coordination with the local council and without acts of violence.

“At the same time, we are concerned by negative activities, which are carried out at times by people whose intentions are right but whose actions are not right, or, God forbid, by people exploiting the precious and important settlement project for ulterior and illegitimate motives,” wrote the rabbis, led by Rabbi Elyakim Levanon.

The spiritual leaders said they “oppose violence of any sort,” adding that “the reality of life on the hilltops and farms can include complex frictions with respect to a variety of events that demand heroism and self-sacrifice.”

“If, God forbid, rioters try to act against a farm or a point of settlement, [settlers] must not respond with violence of any sort, but rather call the security forces or the regional council to handle the incident,” they urged.

“Unfortunately, a campaign is being conducted that seeks to turn any case of friction, and certainly any case of violence, into a weapon against the settlements overall,” the rabbis asserted. “This campaign harms our reputation, in Israel and in the US and around the world.”

The rabbis made no explicit mention of Palestinians. They also did not identify the “rioters” accused of inciting violence, though that may have referred to left-wing activists who sometimes plant themselves in disputed areas in order to document or obstruct potential harassment of Palestinians.

David Dudkevitch, one of the 10 signatories to the letter, was quoted by the Ynet news site as also calling for action, more specifically, against “attacks on Jewish shepherds” by “Arabs and violent anarchists,” as well as a stop to “worrying” operations by members of the security forces against people whom he referred to merely as “the youth.”

Violence in the West Bank has soared since Hamas triggered the Gaza war with its devastating October 2023 attack on southern Israel. The last several years have seen near-daily incidents of violence against Palestinian civilians — including setting alight cars and houses, as well as physical assaults — by extremist settlers, almost none of whom have faced legal consequences thus far.

Far-right MK: Cracking down on settlers will cost lives

On Tuesday, Knesset member Limor Son Har-Melech, of the Otzma Yehudit party, posted on X a letter that she had sent to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, seeking answers about an unsourced report Monday in the Maariv daily. The newspaper claimed that Shin Bet chief David Zini has instructed the agency’s Operational Unit, which ordinarily works to foil Palestinian terrorism against Israeli Jews, to actively root out violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians as well.

Responding to the report, Son Har-Melech demanded to know whether the report was accurate, and if so, whether Zini’s instruction had been approved by the political leadership.

Sharing the letter, the far-right MK wrote: “Shin Bet chief David Zini, don’t go the way of Avi Bluth. The enemy in Judea and Samaria is the Arab enemy, who continues to arm and gather strength, and not the settlers. Inciting forces, and dispatching them to handle Jews, will cost us in human lives. Watch yourself.”

The lawmaker was using the West Bank’s biblical name and referring to the commander of the Israel Defense Forces’ Central Command, which is responsible for the West Bank.

Bluth has been vocal about the need to enforce the law against violent settlers, pledging when he took office “not [to] blink” in the face of settler violence. In 2024, a group of young settlers chased Bluth and the soldiers accompanying him, calling the IDF commander a “traitor.”

The military has said that it lacks the proper tools to handle the attacks, especially since Defense Minister Israel Katz stopped the use of administrative detention, which allows authorities to hold suspects indefinitely without pressing charges, against Israeli citizens. Bluth has said he can only stem the attacks if there is full cooperation from the Shin Bet and the Israel Police, the latter of which is overseen by far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who leads the Otzma Yehudit party.

Electrical fire kills dozens of sheep; settlers had been suspected

Meanwhile, dozens of sheep burned to death in the southern West Bank overnight Monday-Tuesday, in what police said was an electrical fire, rejecting earlier reports in Palestinian media that said settler assailants had allegedly caused the blaze.

Graphic footage from the village of as-Samu, near Hebron, showed the burned corpses of the animals. The fire broke out in a Palestinian-owned sheep pen that has seen attacks in the past by settler extremists.

After reaching the scene, police said they determined the blaze was caused by an electrical malfunction in which the canvas awning covering the sheep pen caught fire, burning the livestock.

“Based on the investigation, the assessment indicates that it is not a criminal or nationalistically motivated act,” police add.