Netanyahu convenes cabinet on settler violence in the West Bank that
continues unabated
[November 22, 2025]
By JULIA FRANKEL
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel's prime minister met with top security officials
to discuss a rising tide of Israeli settler violence in the West Bank,
an Israeli official said Friday, as fresh allegations surfaced of
Israeli settlers hurling rocks at passing Palestinian vehicles in the
West Bank village of Huwara.
Huwara Mayor Jihad Ouda said the stone throwing was quickly followed by
a huge fire at a nearby scrapyard. Flames lit up the evening sky and
sent massive columns of smoke into the air, images and video on social
media showed. The military said it had reports that Israelis set the
fire and that police were investigating.
The U.N. humanitarian office documented 29 attacks by settlers in the
West Bank from Nov. 11-17, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told
reporters Friday. The attacks caused 11 injuries and damage to 10 homes,
two mosques and nearly two dozen vehicles, as well as damage to crops,
livestock, and roughly 1,000 trees and saplings, he said.
Israeli forces have killed more than 200 Palestinians in the West Bank
so far this year, including 50 children, Dujarric said.
In the latest deaths, the Palestinian Health Ministry said two
Palestinian youths aged 18 and 16 were killed by Israeli gunfire
overnight. The circumstances of the shootings were not immediately
clear. Israeli police did not immediately respond when asked to comment.
At the meeting, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and officials from the
military, the country's Shin Bet domestic security service and the
police discussed the recent spike in violence and proposals on curbing
it, according to an Israeli official who spoke on condition of anonymity
because they were not permitted to talk about a closed-door gathering.
The official said proposals floated at the meeting included getting
violent settlers to attend educational programs.
The Prime Minister’s Office did not immediately respond to request for
comment about what was discussed. The Israeli official said there would
be a follow-up meeting.
Settler attacks ramped up during the Palestinian olive harvest season in
October and early November and have continued since. Netanyahu has
called the perpetrators “a handful of extremists” and urged law
enforcement to pursue them for “the attempt to take the law into their
own hands.” But rights groups and Palestinians say the problem is far
greater than a few bad apples, and attacks have become a daily
phenomenon across the territory.
Stones hurled at Palestinian cars, scrapyard torched
Mohammad Dalal, the owner of the torched Huwara scrapyard, claimed that
witnesses told him Israeli settlers were seen throwing rocks Thursday
from an overpass at passing Palestinian vehicles below. He said the
massive fire began soon after.
He said the Israeli army arrived later to force the perpetrators away.
“If the army had not removed them, they would have done even more,”
Dalal said. "These settlers are causing destruction everywhere here. ...
Where can we go? We want to remain steadfast on our land, no matter
what.”
An Israeli investigation unit of soldiers and border police officers on
Friday collected evidence at the scorched scrapyard, according to an
Associated Press crew who was asked to leave by the investigators.
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Mohammad Dalal looks at scorched cars in his scrapyard that was set
ablaze the night before by who local residents alleged were Israeli
settlers in the town of Huwara near the West Bank city of Nablus,
Friday, Nov. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)
Asked about the incident, the Israeli military said it dispatched
soldiers to the area after receiving reports that settlers were
throwing rocks at Palestinian cars. It also said other reports
indicated that “several” Israeli civilians had set fires and damaged
property in the area. It said soldiers searched the area but didn't
find any suspects and that the police were now handling the case.
Huwara has been the target of numerous attacks over recent years. In
February 2023, scores of Israeli settlers went on a violent rampage
there, setting dozens of cars and homes on fire after two settlers
were killed by a Palestinian gunman. Palestinian medics said one man
was killed and four others were badly wounded.
Settler violence surges
U.N. humanitarian office figures show 2,920 Israeli settler attacks
took place between January and October this year.
Israel’s government is dominated by far-right proponents of the
settler movement including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who
formulates settlement policy, and Cabinet minister Itamar Ben-Gvir,
who oversees the nation’s police force.
The security cabinet meeting came shortly after Israeli settlers
celebrated the creation of a new, unauthorized settlement near
Bethlehem.
Israel's Civil Administration also recently announced plans to
expropriate large swaths of Sebastia, a major archaeological site in
the West Bank. Peace Now, an anti-settlement watchdog group, said
the site is around 1,800 dunams (450 acres) — Israel’s largest
seizure of archaeologically important land.
Singapore slaps sanctions on Israeli settlers
Singapore said Friday it will impose targeted financial sanctions
and entry bans on four Israeli individuals for what it said was
their involvement in violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.
Singapore's Foreign Ministry named the individuals as Meir
Ettinger,Elisha Yered, Ben-Zion Gopstein and Baruch Marzel. Some are
currently under international sanction by the European Union, the
U.K. and other countries.
In a statement, Singapore's Foreign Ministry said the settlers have
been involved in “egregious acts of extremist violence against
Palestinians in the West Bank” and urged the Israeli government to
stop the violence and hold the perpetrators accountable.
—-
AP correspondent Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed
to this report.
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