It's Not Just the West Bank Settlers. It's Israel.

Of all the fronts on which Israel is exerting force, the West Bank is where the Jewish state is the most invested, exerts the most control and has received the least American pushback. It is also where over half a million Israeli citizens live among some three million Palestinians who are under military occupation without citizenship. President Trump has not put any brakes on Israeli settlement expansion, creeping annexation, military raids, demolitions of Palestinian homes or settler attacks — all of which have reached record numbers under the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The West Bank is far more strategically and ideologically vital to Israel than any war it is fighting, and it is the area in which Israel has the most longstanding, coherent and unchallenged goal: as much land for Jews with as few Palestinians as possible. The West Bank is also the only arena in which Jewish settler militia groups are operating like a paramilitary force to advance Israel's goals. These militias are not rogue entities, as Israeli leaders have proclaimed. They are organized groups of civilians made up of a combination of Israeli settlers who establish new settlement outposts across the West Bank, settlers who were called up for reserve duty since the Hamas attacks of Oct. 7, 2023, and serve in regional defense units, and rapid response squads, which are local volunteer emergency teams tasked with providing first response in their settlements. Imagine a neighborhood watch, but with military-grade weapons and the use of deadly force. In June, a United Nations report found that 'financial and military support' from Israeli authorities had 'enabled settler attacks.' On Aug. 9, one such militia began to terrorize three Palestinian families in the village of Qusra. They set up a tent outside their home, cutting off access to electricity and water and stymying their freedom of movement. In this case, one of the homes is owned by Loui Ridi, a Palestinian with American citizenship from Ohio. He traveled back to Qusra, putting up an American flag on the roof of his house. Israeli forces had declared the area a 'closed military zone' and removed the tent settlers had erected, but did not restore the Palestinian residents' ability to move in and out freely. Settlers still roamed around, in violation of the order, while the Israeli Army effectively replaced the settlers in surrounding the homes. 'Actions by those who carried out this horrific act of terror meant to intimidate and harass this family are disgusting,' the U.S. ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, said in a statement on X. Mr. Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog have also condemned these attacks. But the settler militias terrorizing Qusra and other villages across the West Bank could not continue to act as they are without state and military cover. These are not isolated extremists or hooligans, as Mr. Huckabee, Mr. Netanyahu and other leaders have said. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.