Bibi's legacy: Could Israeli election curb settler violence?

Nicholas Kristof

Benjamin Netanyahu is the longest-serving prime minister Israel has had, as well as its most disastrous for Jews and Palestinians alike.

The Gaza Strip has faded somewhat from global consciousness but remains in desperate shape with no clear path forward. Meanwhile, the West Bank endures brutal attacks by settlers that create a widening chasm between Israel and the rest of the world. All this is Netanyahu’s legacy.

Finally, polls suggest a chance that his malignant reign may end with October’s election.

The question hanging over the region is whether his exit will bring real change. The answer I hear from experts is: Yes, maybe to a degree. Do not expect a Palestinian state or a complete transformation, but the worst excesses and brutality might be reined in.

Gadi Eisenkot, a former army chief, seems the most likely to lead Israel if Netanyahu proves politically mortal, and Eisenkot is by no means a dove. He helped formulate the Dahiyeh doctrine: responding to attacks with overwhelming, disproportionate destruction to create deterrence. Named after the Beirut suburb where Israel applied it two decades ago, it is seen as a forerunner to Netanyahu’s demolition of Gaza.

However, Eisenkot also withdrew from Netanyahu’s war Cabinet over the direction of the war in Gaza, where he lost a son — a tragedy that has made him a sympathetic figure in Israeli politics. His comments suggest he would try to move Israel in a moderate direction and control violent West Bank settlers committing terror attacks against Palestinians.

“Eisenkot would make a substantial difference in terms of calming the waters on the one hand and cracking down on lawlessness,” said Daniel Kurtzer, a former US ambassador to Israel who teaches at Princeton University.

Most settlers are not violent. Many live in these settlements — which are generally regarded as illegal under international law — for cheap housing rather than ideology. Yet, settler attacks causing damage or injury are at their highest level in two decades, averaging five a day last year and rising to six a day in the first half of this year, according to United Nations figures.

About 1,100 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank by Israeli soldiers or settlers since the 7 October 2023 Hamas-led terror attack on Israel, the UN says. The circumstances are often disputed, but the total includes at least 243 children.

Under Netanyahu, the Israeli army increasingly sides with settlers, even during illegal or violent behaviour, according to Palestinians, Israeli human rights groups, and news reports. “The army routinely accompanies settlers in attacks,” a UN commission reported.

What this means in practice is misery for people like Abdel-Majeed Hassan, a Palestinian farmer in his 70s whom I have visited periodically for years. He is a soft-spoken shepherd in the village of Qusra, deeply proud that all 12 of his children attended university.

“My sheep sent my children to university,” he said during an April visit as he herded his flock.

Over the years, settlers have shot Hassan in the leg, partially burned his home twice, stolen his sheep, invaded his house, blocked access to his olive trees, and tried to burn his animals alive. They have also prevented him from reaching the water spring, threatened his grandchildren, destroyed five of his vehicles, and hurled rocks at him, according to accounts by him, fellow villagers, and human rights monitors.

“It is getting worse,” he told me. Earlier, Israeli military troops would sometimes restrain the settlers, but now they often protect them. As we spoke, his son called to warn that over 20 settlers were approaching. “They will start throwing stones, and if they see a car, they will burn it,” Hassan said resignedly.

One development that makes a clampdown on extremist settlers possible is that growing numbers of prominent Israelis are acknowledging the savagery and demanding action.

Two former prime ministers and senior figures signed a joint letter this summer calling on Netanyahu to “immediately take all measures necessary to terminate the Jewish terror that has been widespread” in the West Bank.

Tamir Pardo, former head of Mossad, told Israeli television after touring West Bank villages: “My mother was a Holocaust survivor, and what I saw reminded me of the events that happened against Jews in the last century.”

I hope Netanyahu’s political end is coming and that someone like Eisenkot will dial back the repression. Yet even if that happens, Palestinians will still suffer unconscionably in Gaza, and the West Bank will remain oppressed and unequal.