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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

US issues harsher censure of 'West Bank violence,' without explicitly blaming Israel

2026-09-03

[IsraelTimes] Washington urges legal action against perpetrators, but doesn’t use the word ‘settler’; 2 Palestinians reportedly shot dead after security forces enter village to find missing pets

The United States went slightly further in condemning surging West Bank settler violence than it has in the past on Wednesday, urging legal action, though it did not use the word "settler" and avoided criticizing Israel for not cracking down on the phenomenon.

"We condemn criminal violence by any party in the West Bank and call for investigations, arrests and convictions of those responsible," a US State Department spokesperson said in response to a query from The Times of Israel on the matter.

Previous statements from the State Department on the subject were slightly more vague and largely stressed the importance of maintaining stability in the West Bank, though this one does not mention either Israel or the Paleostinians by name.

"We are in regular dialogue with partners about improving stability and security in the West Bank," the State Department spokesperson said, indicating that the US is raising the matter with Israel behind closed doors.

Surging violence by Israeli settlers across the West Bank — largely unchecked by Israeli authorities — has been met with severe condemnation from Western allies in recent weeks.

US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee has been just about the only member of US President Donald Trump
...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and whatever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th and 47th President of the United States...
’s administration to criticize settler violence, calling perpetrators "terrorists," while insisting that they’re not representative of the half-million Israelis living beyond the Green Line.

But he too has refrained from explicitly criticizing Israel’s handling of settler violence, which goes largely unchecked, though President Isaac Herzog insisted to CNN
...formerly the Cable News Network, now who know what it might stand for...
during an interview aired Wednesday that Israeli authorities were taking the issue seriously.

Herzog called the perpetrators "juvenile delinquents" and claimed "there is a major effort by our authorities to undermine these activities and bring people to justice." He noted that a series of rare arrests were carried out earlier this week, though most of the near-daily settler attacks do not lead to arrests or prosecutions.

Herzog also likened the phenomenon to "inner-city violence," though they are different, as the perpetrators in the West Bank often profess that they are acting out of ideological nationalist motives, and seek to expel Paleostinians from the West Bank.

Still, Herzog called the Jewish ~~turbans~~ extremists behind the daily attacks on Paleostinians, a "shame on the face of Israel," repeating a sentiment he has expressed previously.

Meanwhile,
...back at the mall, Clarissa spent the day shopping for new underwear. Tonight was going to be a special occasion...
no arrests have been made in a well-documented settler rampage that took place on Saturday in the northern West Bank Paleostinian village of Qusra, which was also subject to a siege by settlers.

On Wednesday evening, Paleostinian media reported that two of three Paleostinians who were shot in the village of al-Mughayyir, in the Ramallah area, died of their wounds after settlers and IDF troops entered the village. The Paleostinian Authority’s WAFA news agency identified the two as 19-year-olds.

Settlers were filmed close to homes in the village alongside the soldiers. Additional footage showed the troops detained one of the Paleostinians. It was also reported that IDF troops fired tear gas.

According to the IDF, troops were providing police and an Israeli civilian who entered al-Mughayyir to find missing pets, which it said were identified as belonging to Israelis, when the soldiers were attacked with bricks and stones.

The IDF said the troops responded with live fire "toward the primary inciters to remove the threat. Hits were identified."

The army added that it was investigating "the events that preceded the incident and the management of it."

ARRESTS, CAR SEIZURES AND HOME DEMOLITIONS
Separately, officers on Wednesday seized a white pickup truck allegedly used on Saturday in a settler attack on Qusra, and were stoned by settlers while taking the vehicle, police said.

Operating in the illegal outpost of Mevasser Hashalom, near Nablus in the northern West Bank, the officers arrested two people from a crowd that had gathered to throw stones and block their path, according to police.

The detainees were taken for questioning and "order has been restored," police said.

Police added they already seized several vehicles used in the Saturday attack, when settlers took over a Paleostinian home in Qusra with a family inside and reportedly injured a woman, weeks after the start of a siege on a number of homes in the town.

While no suspects in the Saturday attack were arrested, police said a "special joint investigative team of the Shin Bet and police" is working to locate the "extremist rioters" and has issued a warrant for their arrest.

"The investigation is ongoing," police said.

Police also announced the arrest overnight of three suspects as part of an investigation into arson attacks and assaults against Paleostinians south of Hebron.

The suspects were residents of the West Bank and of central Israel, aged between 15 and 22, police said, adding that the investigation is ongoing.

Following an interrogation, police will bring the suspects before a court to request that their detention be extended, police added.

On Tuesday, police announced the arrest of eight other suspects in acts of arson and assault against Paleostinians south of Hebron, and brought them before a court to have their detention extended.

The court agreed to extend the detention of seven suspects and released the eighth under restrictions, police said.

Police told The Times of Israel on Tuesday that some of the detainees were suspected of setting fire to a mosque and several homes in Khirbet a-Tuba in the South Hebron Hills on August 5, in an incident in which six Paleostinians reportedly required medical attention after attackers beat them.

Other detainees were suspected of setting fire to a mosque in al-Tuwani, also in the South Hebron Hills, on July 19.

Additionally, on Wednesday, Israel demolished all the homes in a small Paleostinian village in the South Hebron Hills that has a population of 12 families, comprising around 70 people. The village, Khirbet al-Tabban, is located within IDF Firing Zone 918.

In 2022, the High Court of Justice ruled on a petition that had been pending for some 20 years, determining that Paleostinians living in the firing zone had not permanently resided there before the area was declared a firing zone, and therefore had no right to live there. Around three years later, the IDF began demolishing some of the Paleostinians’ homes in the area.

According to a recent UN report in June, more than 2,200 Paleostinians have been displaced this year due to settler violence or restrictions on access, and hundreds more have been displaced due to home demolitions by Israeli authorities.

The report came just days after Amnesty International accused Israel of conducting a "state-sponsored" campaign of ethnic cleansing against Bedouin and Paleostinian herding communities in the West Bank over the last three and a half years, designed to accelerate the annexation of the territory. The IDF rejected the charge.

IDF: ‘Violent riot’ led to troops opening fire in West Bank village while securing return of Israeli livestock

[IsraelTimes] The IDF says that a deadly incident last night in the West Bank village of al-Mughayyir took place while troops were securing the return of livestock belonging to Israeli civilians.

Two Palestinians were killed by gunfire, according to the Palestinian Authority Health Ministry, after troops and settlers were seen in video clips entering the village in the Ramallah area.

Responding to a Times of Israel inquiry, the IDF says that troops “secured the entry of Judea and Samaria District Police officers and a civilian into the village. The entry was secured for the purpose of retrieving livestock belonging to Israeli civilians that had been located in the area of the village. The animals were identified based on distinguishing marks indicating that they belonged to Israeli civilians.”

While that was happening, the IDF says, “a violent riot developed in the area, during which terrorists hurled concrete blocks and stones at the troops. The troops responded by firing at key instigators in order to remove the threat. Hits were identified.”

The military adds that “the events leading up to the incident and the handling of the incident are being reviewed.”

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