Dr. Moshe Dann is a historian, writer, and journalist. He lives in Jerusalem
Although many use “settler violence" to oppose attacks on Arabs, few understand it and know what it is. Even less know what it represents. Promoted by Haaretz, the Jerusalem Post, and leftist media, it is exaggerated and has become a pretext for attacking Jews and Israel.
The term “settler violence" creates a uniquely specific category that links “settlers" - Jews living in Judea and Shomron, and eastern Jerusalem - with violence. It is meant to create a cognitive definition and is used to accuse Jews of terrorism and to equate Jewish self-defense with Arab terrorism. Don’t worry about Arab violence, they argue; blame the Jews for “settler colonialism."
Those who use the term seek to divert our focus from Arab terrorism and violence to Jews who are defending themselves and their communities. It is used to demonize Jews who have established farms and communities on hilltops while dismissing Arab encroachment and expansion of their towns and villages. It is used to promote the canard that “Jews are stealing Palestinian land." Apartheid is confirmed by “settler violence."
Using false and bias reporting by the PA, Hamas, and UN organizations, it seeks to create a new “reality" that undermines the entire settlement movement by condemning Israel’s “Occupation of Palestinian Territory (OPT)" - charging that all Jewish settlements are “illegal according to international law" i.e. the Fourth Geneva Convention (FGC). The FGC, however, defines the occupation of another country as illegal when the area belongs to another country. Since Jordan and Egypt illegally seized these areas in the 1948-49 war - areas that had been assigned to the Jewish National Home -- the FGC’s definition does not apply.
The context: Beginning in the late 1980’s, when Palestinian Arabs declared an “intifada" to destroy Israel, the Israeli government signed agreements with Yasser Arafat, the terrorist leader of the PLO to establish the PA, led by the PLO.
The agreements, known as the Oslo Accords, offered Arafat a quasi-state. That was rejected by Arafat who launched the Jihadist “Second Intifada," a declaration of war.
Under PM Ariel Sharon, the government inaugurated the “Disengagement," and expelled 10,000 Jews from Gaza, which paved the way for Hamas and empowered the PA.
Meanwhile, the PA instituted its “pay-for-slay" policy of providing financial incentives for terrorists, unchallenged by the international community, including the Israeli government, its legal advisors, and some of Israel’s political and military leaders -- except for the 2018 US Taylor Force Act and Fiinance Minister Smotrich halting the transfer of tax funds to the PA for promoting violence in 2023.
“Settler violence," however, was not mentioned until Hamas’ massacre on October 7, 2023. Shortly after that tragedy occurred, journalists, including Israelis, began to promote the canard of “settler violence," which was adopted by international media and many countries - and has become a weapon to promote Israel’s destruction.
Recently, prominent figures, such as US Ambassador Mike Huckabee, the Pope, and UN representatives use “settler violence" to criticize Israel. European countries and others have initiated boycotts of Jewish communities in Judea & Samaria to demonize Israel and demand a Palestinian state.
“Settler violence" has become a convenient tool to ignore Arab Palestinian terrorism and violence, to turn the perpetrators into victims, and to promote Arab Palestinian statehood in Gaza and Judea & Samaria as existential threats to Israel’s existence.