In the Knesset, lawmakers salute the lawless, violent settlers who shape Israel`s fate
The day-long ceremony highlighted how far, in just three years, Israel has drifted from treating settler violence as a taboo to celebrating its `pioneers` in the seat of power
Today, in the Knesset`s auditorium, far-right Otzma Yehudit lawmaker Limor Son Har-Melech held a day-long ceremony billed as a "Great salute to the pioneers of the settlements, the hills and the farms," referring to Hilltop Youth – the far-right Israeli teens and young adults known for building West Bank farm outposts, considered illegal even under Israeli law, to terrorize and forcibly displace existing Palestinian communities.
Who exactly did some Israeli lawmakers salute today? Daniella Weiss, the "godmother" of the settlement movement who has gained international recognition through widely mocked appearances on Piers Morgan`s show; multiple Israelis who founded outposts last year; Elisha Yered, a far-right activist who was considered so dangerous that he was banned from entering the West Bank by the IDF Central Command; and Moshe Sharvit, another known extremist sanctioned by the U.K., Canada, and, until last year, the United States, who has been described by the Israel`s top civil rights group as a "super-spreader of settler violence."
After the ceremony, Yered wrote on X that "Every minute was like a healing balm for the wounds of the past that refused to heal until this day. Years of persecution, of scorn and contempt, of lack of recognition for the life`s work of those who stubbornly kept the ember alive."
Yered was referencing the long-gone days when settler violence still shocked the Israeli mainstream. Next month will mark three years since hundreds of Israeli settlers descended on the Palestinian town of Hawara in the West Bank in a vigilante attack that killed a 37-year-old man and wounded 98 others.
At the time, even the head of the IDF`s Central Command described the rampage as a "pogrom". Only some of the newly elected MKs of Otzma Yehudit – the Jewish supremacist party led by Itamar Ben-Gvir, which secured a whopping six seats in the November 2022 election – dared to praise the Hawara pogrom publicly, although back then, openly celebrating settler violence had consequences.
After saying that he was "very pleased" and looked "favorably on the results" of the attack, Zvika Fogel was probed for incitement to terrorism. Ben-Gvir instead chose to conceal his glee, stating at the time: "This is not the way, we don`t take the law into our hands. The government of Israel, the State of Israel, the IDF, the security forces – they are the ones who have to crush our enemies."
Less than three years later, distinguishing between the Israeli army and the far-right settler movement is no longer clear-cut. After all, the Israeli army created a "formal mechanism for establishing farms in full cooperation" with the West Bank`s so-called "pioneers."
These policies have devastating consequences: at least 33 Palestinian communities in the West Bank have ceased to exist entirely since 2023, according to data published last month by the UN`s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
While Otzma Yehudit politicians stand in the Knesset and salute extremists that were once beyond the pale, where are Israel`s opposition leaders? Blue and White leader Benny Gantz was downplaying the issue, claiming that most outposts – distinguished from Israel`s West Bank settlements because outposts are illegal according to Israeli law – are "in the right places and approved."
Yair Golan, the leader of the Democrats party, is one of the only Israeli politicians to consistently call out the right wing for excusing the settlers` organized violence as child`s play. After Monday`s Knesset event, he said the Hilltop Youth moniker feeds "the illusion that all the lawlessness and riots in the West Bank are just caused by a few wayward kids," when in reality, Hilltop Youth are "the vanguard of the annexation project."
Golan continued: "[They] believe that by the force of their hands and the severity of their actions, they alone can decide the fate of Israel."
Make no mistake: Hilltop Youth and the not-so-young far-right settlement movement leaders that were honored in the Knesset on Monday are not in this alone. They have the Knesset, the Israeli army and the apathetic indifference of the Israeli public behind them.
Read more about Israeli settler colonies in the West Bank:
`A handful of kids?` An army of Israeli youths is being deployed to expel Palestinians in the West Bank
`How can a father tell their child that settlers burned down their house?`
Israeli settlers raid, set fire to Bedouin community in West Bank
Brutal beatings, arson and impunity: A Palestinian plant nursery becomes a target for settler pogroms
Not Masada or the Dead Sea: Young diaspora Jews provide protective presence in the West Bank
Israeli settler violence against Palestinians in West Bank rose 25 percent in 2025, IDF finds
`This is another Nakba`: How over 100 West Bank Palestinians had to leave their homes in just one day
Photo: Israeli sitting in comfort in occupied Palestine. Source: Haaretz.
