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Israeli settlers committing regime-backed 'war crimes' in West Bank: Ex-PM Olmert

Iran Press TV

Sunday, 13 July 2025 7:15 AM

Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert says settlers have been committing "war crimes" against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank under the protection of the Tel Aviv regime.

Speaking on Israel's Channel 13 on Saturday, Olmert said "hilltop youth" or "youths of horror" assault Palestinians, run off their lands and torch their homes, on a daily basis.

"In the West Bank, war crimes are occurring daily. Jews are murdering Palestinians. Burning them," he added.

The Israeli police shut their eyes to the settler violence, while the military does not do what it is supposed to do.

However, the hosts of the show alleged that only a small minority of Israeli settlers attack Palestinians.

Olmert refuted the claim, saying, "This is not a minority, that's a false claim. They (the settlers) have backing, otherwise they wouldn't be able to do it."

He further referred to the case of Sayfollah Musallet, a young Palestinian-American man who was beaten to death by Israeli settlers in the West Bank town of Sinjil on Friday.

Meanwhile, in a column for the Israeli daily Haaretz, Olmert explicitly linked the actions of violent settlers to far-right ministers of the Israeli cabinet like Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich.

"These militias are not a gang of savages," he wrote, "but the vanguard of everyone who encourages and inspires them - and covers for them."

The ex-Israeli prime minister also noted that the main mission of violent settlers "is to expel all the West Bank Palestinians by making life so miserable" for them.

Palestine urges global action against settler terrorism

On Saturday, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry urged the international community to "end double standards" in addressing the suffering of Palestinians and take "necessary measures" towards halting "terrorist settler militia crimes in the West Bank."

It further underlined the need for holding "illegal settler organizations accountable, prosecute them, and impose immediate sanctions on those who support and protect them politically and militarily."

Israel has ramped up West Bank violence since October 7, 2023, when it launched a genocidal war on the Gaza Strip.

Since then, at least 998 Palestinians have been killed and more than 7,000 others injured in attacks by the Israeli forces and settlers across the occupied West Bank, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.