Israeli settlers carrying out pogroms in the occupied West Bank often also then return dressed in military uniforms to impose orders on Palestinian victims, blurring the lines between violent attackers and security forces Israel claims uphold the law, an Al Jazeera investigation has found.
uncertain
investigation → carry → law
The incidents captured in the investigation bolster the evidence presented by many Palestinian communities, international and Israeli human rights groups, activists and journalists pointing to institutional Israeli backing for settlers who have attacked, burned and taken over entire villages.
asserted
who → capture → villages
A particularly stark example played out in the village of Tal, southwest of Nablus.
asserted
example → play → Nablus
Through facial matching and local testimonies, the investigation identified Yitzhak Levi Filant, a settler from Yitzhar known locally as “Yaqoub”.
asserted
investigation → identify → Yaqoub
Filant was documented assaulting farmers in civilian clothing, only to return to the same village wearing a military uniform, carrying a military-issued weapon and issuing orders to residents.
asserted
Filant → document → residents
Filant was placed on the United States sanctions list in August 2024 under President Joe Biden before President Donald Trump’s administration removed him from the list in early 2025.
asserted
administration → place → 2025
Abbas Melhem, director of the Palestinian Farmers Union, told Al Jazeera that this duality is a daily reality.
asserted
duality → tell → Jazeera
“When the farmer says, for example, to a settler: ‘I will call the army,’ the settler tells him: ‘There is no need for that.’
asserted
settler → say → that
He goes to his car, then puts on his military uniform and returns and tells him: ‘I am the army!'” Melhem said
asserted
Melhem → go → him
“The army in the West Bank and the settlers are two sides of the same coin, and they serve the same goal planned and implemented by the Israeli government through this system,” Melhem added.
asserted
Melhem → serve → system
The investigation documented deadlier manifestations of this overlap in Hebron.
asserted
investigation → document → Hebron
On March 7, a settler named Nahman encroached on Palestinian land near the Susya settlement and summoned reinforcements.
asserted
settler → name → reinforcements
An off-road vehicle soon arrived with the brothers Shem Tov and Luria Luski.
asserted
vehicle → arrive → brothers
Luria Luski, who has appeared in military uniform in other footage, opened fire.
asserted
who → appear → fire
The attack killed Amir Shanaran, a resident, and severely wounded his cousin.
asserted
attack → kill → cousin
Shanaran’s father recounted the harrowing scene to Al Jazeera.
asserted
father → recount → Jazeera
“The first two shots in the air, bang, and then he came to my nephew, hit him with the muzzle of the rifle in his face here.
asserted
he → bang → face
I came and tried to defend my nephew.
asserted
I → come → nephew
Shem Tov came and hit me in my head with the stick.
asserted
Tov → come → stick
I fell,” the father stated.
asserted
father → fall → ?
“My late son, may God have mercy on him, Amir, came.
uncertain
God → come → him
He came to defend me.
asserted
He → come → me
He pushed the settler away from me.
asserted
He → push → me
He shot him on the spot,” he added.
asserted
he → shoot → spot
Israeli attacks in the West Bank have escalated rapidly since October 7, 2023, and the Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel.
asserted
attacks → escalate → Israel
They were followed by Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.
asserted
They → follow → Gaza
According to the Al Jazeera investigation, 14 of 63 Palestinians killed by settlers since October 7, 2023, were shot by individuals serving in the army or wearing military uniforms.
uncertain
Palestinians → accord → uniforms
Additional footage showed soldier Bezalel Talia raiding Palestinian homes and detaining residents while simultaneously running a training camp for settler youth involved in attacks on villages.
asserted
Talia → show → villages
This coordination is structurally supported by the Israeli military’s Regional Defence battalions, known as Hagmar.
asserted
coordination → support → Hagmar
These units have expanded sixfold since 2023, shifting their core function from guarding settlements to backing settler operations.
asserted
units → expand → operations
Assaf Surya, the battalions’ deputy commander in Hebron, acknowledged in an interview with Israeli media that most Hagmar members are settlers serving in the reserves.
asserted
members → acknowledge → reserves
Mohannad Mustafa, an expert on Israeli affairs, told Al Jazeera that the force’s mission has fundamentally changed.
asserted
mission → tell → Jazeera
“Because it enjoys political support and it was originally armed in order to be a tool in the colonial settlement project in the West Bank, … therefore, it was armed by the army, and it was armed by the Israeli Ministry of National Security, and it was supported politically, and it was supported economically also and financially by the Israeli government,” Mustafa said.
asserted
Mustafa → enjoy → government
“Part of the idea of defending the settlements now has become geographical expansion, expelling the Palestinians from their lands and restricting them,” Mustafa explained.
asserted
Mustafa → defend → them
Gideon Levy, a writer and journalist at the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, analysed the deliberate nature of this integration.
asserted
Levy → analyse → integration
“The settlers made the decision to enter into the Israeli army and specifically in the units stationed in the West Bank,” Levy noted to Al Jazeera.
asserted
Levy → make → Jazeera
“We have seen gradually and systematically an increasing number of commanders who are settlers themselves.”
asserted
who → see → commanders
The investigation revealed that weapons flow through both official military service and government facilitation: National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has said that at least 120,000 civilian weapon licences have been issued to settlers during the current government’s tenure.
asserted
licences → reveal → tenure
Training occurs at settlement firing ranges, such as the Ma’on settlement facility.
asserted
Training → occur → facility
Amir Daoud from the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission highlighted the severe security implications: “This is also what happened over the past years, that many security officers who were working for many years in security apparatuses and resigned or retired from them, joined settler militias and made a lot of information available to settler militias in order to use it against the Palestinians.”
asserted
lot → highlight → Palestinians
…and 14 more, not listed.
The Aporia
