A group of 10 prominent settler rabbis have issued a joint statement urging their communities to disavow violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.
In a letter made public on Monday, the rabbis, hailing from the northern settlements and led by Rabbi Elyakim Levanon, claimed that "violence of any sort" could have a detrimental effect on the settlement project as a whole.
"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," they wrote.
"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."
However, they did claim that 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," adding that this "harms our reputation, in Israel and in the US and around the world".
Their intervention in a significant one following a notable uptick in settler violence last year.
According to figures released by the IDF, there were 867 incidents of “nationalistic crime” recorded in 2025, up 27 per cent from 682 in 2024.
Likewise, the number of these crimes categorised as “serious” rose by 50 per cent from 83 to 128.
This came alongside a significant drop in the number of attacks perpetrated by Palestinians, which the IDF credits to its counter-terror operations.
Per the report, Shin Bet believes that the majority of attacks are carried out by a group of around 300 extremist settlers, 70 of whom are thought to make up a “hardcore” bloc responsible for more severe violence.
More than half of those 70 are already under IDF-authorised restraining orders, either preventing them from entering the West Bank or confining them to house arrest if they already live there.
Officials believe that most of the 300 assailants are spread across 42 “outposts” – settlements considered illegal under Israeli law in addition to international law – and many are officially registered as living in Israel rather than in the territory.
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