Settlers riot in West Bank village for 3rd time in days after terror shooting

Dozens of Israeli settlers in the West Bank were reported to raid a Palestinian village Thursday night, setting fire to locals’ property for the third time this week.

The attack was apparently in revenge for a terror shooting on Monday in which Palestinian gunmen killed two elderly women and an off-duty cop and wounded at least eight others in the area.

Several Palestinian villages throughout the West Bank have been attacked in recent days, including al-Funduq — where the suspects in the shooting attack were from — Hajja, Turmusaya and Immatain, according to the Yesh Din organization, which tracks such incidents.

Overnight Thursday settlers were reported to have raided the village of Khirbet Abu Falah northeast of Ramallah.

Footage showed a building used by farmers on the outskirts of the village going up in flames.

The words “Revenge” and “Funduq” were graffitied in Hebrew on the outer wall of the building with a Star of David, apparently referencing the area where the deadly shooting took place this week.

مستوطنون يضرمون النار في منشأة زراعية ويخطون شعارات عنصرية بالعبرية على جدرانها في قرية أبو فلاح شمال شرقي رام الله بالضفة الغربية المحتلة pic.twitter.com/VFThQotg13

— TRT عربي (@TRTArabi) January 10, 2025

Overnight Wednesday-Thursday, settlers torched a Palestinian vehicle in the village of Wadi Rahhal near Bethlehem, according to Palestinian media reports.

Footage from several of the towns attacked in recent days showed cars doused by settlers going up in flames.

And then on overnight Monday-Tuesday, settlers rampaged through several Palestinian villages throughout the West Bank, the Yesh Din rights groups reported.

Targeted Palestinian towns included al-Funduq — where the suspects in the shooting attack were from — Hajja, Turmusaya and Immatain, Yesh Din said.

Footage from several of those towns shows cars doused by settlers going up in flames.

“Once again, the army is doing nothing to prevent settler violence. This time, too, the writing was on the wall, and notices calling for riots in the villages were distributed publicly among settlers. This is what the Wild West looks like,” said Yesh Din.

No arrests have been made in connection with any of the alleged settler attacks.

Settler violence against Palestinians has soared since the October 7, 2023, Hamas massacre, and security forces have been accused of turning a blind eye to the attacks.

Prosecution in such cases is exceedingly rare, leading several Western countries to begin sanctioning Israeli extremists in the West Bank last year.

The Department for Internal Police Investigations (DIPI) announced late last month that it is investigating a senior police officer on the suspicion that he deliberately refused to investigate incidents of suspected Jewish nationalist attacks in the West Bank, ostensibly to advance his position in the police force.

Meanwhile, High Court justices on Monday impatiently demanded answers for the police’s failure to curb settler violence in the southern West Bank.

Israel has long struggled to deal with settler violence successfully but observers say the problem has intensified since far-right lawmaker Itamar Ben Gvir became minister in charge of the police two years ago.

Before entering politics, Ben Gvir dismissed settler violence and defended Israelis allegedly involved in such attacks.