Netanyahu Reportedly Issued Rare Rebuke of Israeli Settlers Who Attack Palestinians in West Bank

Channel 13 reported that PM Netanyahu called Jewish rioters who attack Palestinians a 'spreading cancer' during a security cabinet meeting in March on a plan to curb West Bank violence, most of which was not made public for political reasons

July 21st, 20PM July 21st, 20PM

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly described Jewish settlers who attack Palestinians as "a spreading cancer" during a March security cabinet meeting focused on a government plan to curb Jewish terrorism in the West Bank, according to a Channel 13 News report on Saturday.

According to the report, most of the plan to counter the spiking settler violence was ultimately not made public due to political considerations, despite pressure from senior security officials, including Shin Bet chief David Zini, on Netanyahu and several ministers to release it.

The Prime Minister's Office did not confirm the quote attributed to Netanyahu but said in a statement that the prime minister's position is that "nationalist crime in the West Bank is a serious phenomenon carried out by a small minority that causes great international damage to Israel, and it must be uprooted."

According to the statement, settler violence "causes tremendous injustice to the settlement community," which it described as a "law-abiding" population.

The Shin Bet security service declined to comment on whether Zini was among the officials who pressured Netanyahu to publish the full plan drafted by the cabinet to combat Jewish rioters.

Netanyahu has rarely spoken publicly about settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank or about the measures taken by the state against them. Asked about the issue in an interview with CNN earlier this month, he responded that "It's 150 or so kids, teens who are brought into the West Bank."

In the interview, Netanyahu described them as "not from the settler community, which is law-abiding, outstanding citizens who are massacred by Palestinians."

In recent months, Netanyahu has found himself caught between American and international pressure to act against the perpetrators and his desire not to destabilize the governing coalition he leads. The publication of his reported remarks by Channel 13 News could help him signal a willingness to confront Jewish terrorism without publicly delivering that message in his own name.

Last month, Haaretz reported that two former prime ministers, senior scientists from Israel and the U.S., former heads of Israel's security branches and dozens of former senior officials from all defense organizations signed a letter sent to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday, demanding decisive action against Jewish terror in the West Bank.

The letter, which was drafted by an Israeli lawyer, Dr. Shmuel Berkowitz, includes a detailed description of Jewish terror activity against Palestinians in the West Bank over recent years. It calls for the state to be resolute in its action against it.

The letter, Berkowitz writes, is "a wake-up call and a final warning. We demand that you take all necessary measures to immediately eliminate the Jewish terror prevalent in [the West Bank] in recent years, during which Palestinian villagers and shepherds are murdered and wounded, and property is damaged and looted with cruel violence by hundreds of young Jewish criminals."

The letter continues: "These criminals mostly live in [West Bank] farms and illegal outposts, most of which were established without the approval of the qualified authorities. They were established near Palestinian communities, primarily to harm their residents and expel them from their villages with the goal of advancing their 'land redemption' vision, through forced Judaization of [the West Bank]."

The signatories of the letter added: "For some reason, these Jewish criminals are referred to by you with the naïve term of 'hilltop youth,' as if they were members of a youth movement, marginalized youth or [outliers]. These are also young people and adults who lead even minors on the path of terror, crime and deadly violence."

In March, at the end of a security cabinet meeting on Jewish terror in the West Bank, Netanyahu ordered the regulations to be fast-tracked; they are now on the attorney general's desk for review.

According to two defense officials, this involves adapting legislation for the West Bank to legislation for Israel. In March 2025, the Knesset passed a law, pushed by far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich's Religious Zionism party, to legalize residences on herding farms in Israel proper.