What’s behind Netanyahu’s condemnation of this weekend’s settler attacks?

KUALA LUMPUR, 31 AUGUST 2026 —

Masked Israeli settlers in open pickup trucks stormed Palestinian villages in the occupied West Bank at the weekend, torching homes and injuring at least seven people in coordinated attacks that drew unusually sharp condemnation from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

In Arrabeh, two Palestinians were also assaulted near the Mevo Dotan settlement, according to reports compiled by Al Jazeera.

Netanyahu labelled the incidents “criminal acts of violence” carried out by a “handful of rioters” who had violated the law and interfered with the military. He ordered law enforcement to “arrest the rioters and bring them to justice.” President Isaac Herzog called the attacks a “red line,” while opposition leader Yair Lapid branded them a “moral stain” and a “national disgrace.”

Yet on the ground, the Israeli police’s West Bank district—commanded by Moshe Pinchi—made no arrests despite video evidence of the assaults, Al Jazeera reported.

Analysts said the condemnation was a political manoeuvre to shield the broader settlement project from international scrutiny. Ehab Jabareen, a writer and analyst who is a Palestinian citizen of Israel, said Netanyahu’s statement was an attempt to isolate the latest pogroms from the wider settler enterprise.

“He puts forward a political equation stating that there are 500,000 legitimate settlers, alongside a few dozen deviants or anomalies,” Jabareen said. “He wants to punish, or give the illusion of punishing, the most blatant link in order to protect the wider system.”

Security chiefs have privately warned that unchecked settler violence could ignite a large-scale Palestinian uprising. Major General Avi Bluth, head of Israel’s Central Command, told closed-door assessments that nationalistic crime such as the weekend pogroms could force the mobilisation of thousands of soldiers, Jabareen said.

“The army speaks to Netanyahu in the language of cost-benefit analysis,” he added. “Dozens of settlers create an open front that requires the mobilisation of thousands of soldiers. Netanyahu did not say this is unacceptable because it targets Palestinians, but rather said it obstructs the army.”

Mamoun Abu Amer, an analyst on Israeli politics, dismissed the idea that the state had lost control over the settlers. “The settlers are too cowardly to carry out any attack without the sponsorship and cover of the government,” he said. He pointed to cases where the military demolished Palestinian homes after residents resisted settler assaults.

The violence coincides with accelerated expansion of settlements. According to Peace Now, the number of settlers in the West Bank and East Jerusalem has risen from 110,000 and 140,000 in 1993 to 465,000 and 230,000 today. A 2025 European Union report said the Israeli government approved 54 new settlements in the West Bank in a single year—more than ten times the five approved in 2024—alongside 86 new outposts and 63,311 housing units.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who oversees the territory, declared a “revolution in settlement” expansion and linked it directly to blocking Palestinian statehood. A record 400 million shekels (RM1.3 billion) was allocated to the Ministry of Settlement and National Missions in the 2025 budget, which bypassed legal frameworks to authorise previously illegal outposts.

Tenders have been issued for 1,234 homes as part of a plan to build 3,401 units linking Ma’ale Adumim to East Jerusalem, a project that could sever the West Bank in two.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported more than 1,540 settler attacks causing casualties or property damage so far in 2025, with the monthly average now the highest on record. Western governments have issued statements condemning settlement expansion, including the E1 project, but analysts argue the response lacks substance.

Abu Amer contrasted the hesitation over sanctions with the swift defunding of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees based on unproven Israeli allegations.

“There are political positions issued recently by Western countries condemning the Israeli behaviour in reviving the E1 project, but these positions have not translated into practical measures,” he said.

By decoupling violent acts from the state machinery that arms, funds and protects the settlers, Israel continues to pursue the permanent annexation of Palestinian land.