Jewish Issues Watchdog

The “Settler Violence” Libel:

A 125-page analysis of the UN OCHA (Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) database on incidents in the West Bank/Judea and Samaria, which is the primary source cited by media, NGOs (like B’Tselem, Yesh Din), and international bodies for claims of widespread “settler violence" found that: only 3.8% of the total OCHA-reported incidents of "settler violence" (9 per month) are clear cases of alleged civilian-on-civilian harm (bodily injury or property damage attributed to Jewish Israelis); AND that most of those cases were of Jewish Israelis responding to Arab attacks, stone-throwing, riots, or attempts to damage property/enter communities.

In other words about 2-3 incidents per month are actually violence initiated by Jewish Israelis; while IDF/Shin Bet data documents thousands of violent Arab incidents monthly against Jews.

The report demonstrates that the “settler violence” label often refers to defensive actions (or even security force actions) as unprovoked aggression by civilians.

This "settler violence" label fuels a “blood libel” to delegitimize settlements, pressure Israel internationally, and ignore the much higher volume of Palestinian terrorist attacks.

In detail:
• Data examined: OCHA’s list of 8,332 “incidents involving Israeli settlers and other Israeli civilians” from Jan 2016 to April 2023 (pre-Oct 7 period). Of these, 6,285 were categorized as against Palestinians.
• Filtering results:
• ~2,047 (~24%) involved settlers as victims of Palestinian violence (still counted under “settler-related”).
• Many others occurred in Jerusalem (not “settlements”), involved Temple Mount visits/clashes with security forces and rioters, state infrastructure work in Area C, hiking/tourism, or non-violent events.
• Palestinian terrorists killed/wounded during attacks on Jews, or incidents with IDF/security forces (no civilian settlers involved), were often labeled “settler violence.”
• After exclusions, only ~833 incidents (~10% of the original) remained as potential cases involving Jewish civilians causing bodily harm/property damage over 7.5 years — averaging ~9 per month.
Of those remaining 10% of cases:
48% are listed simply as “involvement in clashes” — with no details on who initiated, who was the aggressor, or fault. These are ambiguous two-sided events.
• 14% explicitly involved clashes with Israeli security forces (IDF/police), meaning they were not purely civilian settler actions but confrontations during counter terrorism operations or responses.
This leaves 3.8% of the total OCHA-reported incidents of "settler violence" as clear cases of alleged civilian-on-civilian harm (bodily injury or property damage attributed to Jewish Israelis).
The report concludes that the “settler violence” label often refers to defensive actions (or even security force actions) as unprovoked aggression by civilians.

www.regavim.org

From WSJ, by Dov Lieberman:

Israel launched a highly technical campaign to kill or capture all participants in the Oct. 7 attack, compiling a list of thousands of names.

Israeli intelligence uses facial recognition, intercepted calls, and location data to identify and track targets across Gaza, Lebanon and Iran.

The campaign continues despite a cease-fire, with recent strikes killing Hamas military commander Ezzedin al-Haddad.

Inside Israel’s High-Tech Campaign to Kill or Capture Every Oct. 7 Attacker One by one, militants who videotaped their exploits that day have been identified and killed, in a measure of Israel’s surveillance acumen and desire for retribution.