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Here’s What You Should Know About Israeli Settlements
Whether in the mainstream media, academia, or a casual conversation among friends, any discussion of Israeli politics inevitably brings up the issue of “Israeli settlements.”
But while the term “Israeli settlements” has entered the popular lexicon, how much does the average person really know about them?
Let’s take a look at the history of the Israeli settlements from their genesis in 1967 until today.
The First Settlements (1967-1968)
In June 1967, Israel fought a defensive war against the armies of Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. After six days of fighting, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) emerged victorious and not only pushed back the enemy militaries, but also gained control over large swathes of territory: the Sinai Desert and Gaza Strip from Egypt, the Golan Heights from Syria, and eastern Jerusalem and the West Bank from Jordan.
Soon after the war ended, Israelis began to undertake grassroots initiatives to establish communities in these new territories. These Israelis viewed this community-building as a continuation of the pioneering spirit that had infused the Jewish community before the creation of the State of Israel.
Most of these early settlements, which were few in number, were established in areas that were designated as being of strategic value by the Alon Plan, in order to keep Israel safe.
The Alon Plan, which was conceived by the Israeli Minister of Labor Yigal Alon between June and July 1967, was a program whereby Israel would maintain control over certain parts of the West Bank (primarily the Jordan Valley, Gush Etzion, and eastern Jerusalem) in order to protect itself from future Jordanian attacks. The rest of the territory would either go to Jordan or a Palestinian administration.
According to the vision of the Alon Plan, the newly founded settlements would serve as advanced positions that would help secure these new defensible borders.
In addition to security considerations, some of the early settlements were established on the sites of Jewish communities that had been depopulated during periods of violence, particularly during the Arab insurgency (1947-1948) and the Israeli War of Independence.
For example, Kibbutz Kfar Etzion, one of the first settlements to be established, was set up in September 1967 by children of the original residents of the kibbutz, who had largely been killed in a Jordanian-led massacre in May 1948.
The Second Wave of the Settlements (1968-1980)
In 1968, a group of religious families attempted to set up a community in the ancient city of Hebron, which had been emptied of its Jewish population following the 1929 Hebron Massacre. This group ultimately became the nucleus of the nearby settlement of Kiryat Arba and, later, the re-established Jewish community of Hebron.
This attempt heralded the “second wave” of settlement building, which was more ideologically driven and viewed the establishment of Jewish communities as a national and religious imperative, due to the status of Judea and Samaria (the traditional Jewish name for the West Bank) as the birthplace of the Jewish people.
In 1974, the Gush Emunim (“Bloc of the Faithful”) movement was officially established as a grassroots organization that would work towards setting up new Jewish communities across Judea and Samaria.
Following the election of Menachem Begin’s right-wing government in 1977, the Israeli government became more amenable to the establishment of Jewish communities across the West Bank.
However, this does not mean that Israelis were given carte blanche to set up settlements anywhere they saw fit.
In a now-famous 1979 incident, the Israeli government was compelled by the Supreme Court to move the nascent community of Elon Moreh six miles (10 kilometers) down the road following an appeal brought by Arab residents of a nearby village.
Settlement Growth, Settlement Freezes, and Settlement Destruction
Since the 1970s, there have been periods of settlement growth within Judea and Samaria as well as periods of construction freezes, particularly during periods of peace negotiations with the Palestinians and other neighboring Arab countries.
Due to the freeze on founding new settlements since the Oslo peace process, outposts were built by those who wished to create new communities in Judea and Samaria but did not have the permission of the Israeli government. Since the mid-1990s, several of these outposts have been recognized by the Israeli government as official settlements.
On occasion, the Israeli government has also uprooted Jewish communities in the West Bank, including four that were dismantled as part of the disengagement from Gaza in 2005 and the Amona settlement that was evacuated between 2006 and 2017.
For further information on settlements, outposts, and settlement blocs, see Blocs, Towns & Outposts: What Are the Settlements?
The author is a contributor to HonestReporting, a Jerusalem-based media watchdog with a focus on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias — where a version of this article first appeared.
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From Iran Nukes to Europe-Israel Diplomacy, New York Times Can’t or Won’t Get the Context Right
The New York Times building in New York City. Photo: Wikimedia Commons
The New York Times came in with a big editorial denouncing antisemitism and infuriating the Jew-hating readers who populate its comment section — but its news pages keep spreading falsehoods about Israel.
Three recent examples show how Times reporters lack historical or even recent context.
A Times news article about Australia, Britain, Canada, New Zealand, and Norway imposing sanctions on Israeli ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich includes this passage:
“Britain has already tried once to prevent us from settling the cradle of our homeland, and we will not allow it to do it again,” Mr. Smotrich posted on social media in Hebrew, referring to Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
The intended reference there actually seems to be not “Jewish settlements in the West Bank” but rather the infamous British “White Paper” of 1939 that sharply limited Jewish immigration into the British controlled mandate of Palestine. The White Paper capped Jewish migration at 75,000 over five years, during a moment when millions of Jews were desperately seeking to escape the Nazi onslaught. “After the period of five years, no further Jewish immigration will be permitted unless the Arabs of Palestine are prepared to acquiesce in it,” the White Paper said. It’s astonishing that this has somehow vanished from the Times‘ historical memory.
Another Times news article claimed, “The toll and imposition of a blockade, now partially lifted, in the territory [Gaza] have provoked growing international outrage, including among European states like France and Britain little inclined to sharp criticism of Israel in the past.” The idea that the outrage is “provoked” by Israeli actions rather than motivated by the growing and restive Muslim populations in France and Britain is questionable. There’s no outrage against Egypt, which also borders Gaza. And it’s inaccurate to say that France and Britain have been “little inclined to sharp criticism of Israel in the past.”
For example, in 2019 a French diplomatic statement said, “France condemns the decisions taken by the Israeli authorities on 5 and 6 August allowing for the construction of 2,304 housing units on the West Bank. These decisions come amid the troubling acceleration of settlement building on the West Bank and in East Jerusalem. As stated in UN Security Council Resolution 2334, these settlements are contrary to international law. This policy further heightens tensions on the ground and gravely undermines the conditions for a just and lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians based on a two-state solution.”
A brief for the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs reported, “For many years, France has been the driving force behind anti-Israel political attitudes in the EU. In addition, former Israeli UN ambassador Yehuda Blum noted, ‘The French at the UN were the leaders of every anti-Israel initiative originating in Europe throughout. Theirs was a totally unbalanced position. We counted them in the Arab camp.’”
In 2002, British and French foreign ministers met with Yasser Arafat at a time when George W. Bush was trying to freeze Arafat out.
A third example of Times cluelessness comes from the paper’s “live” news coverage of the war between Israel and Iran. “In his first television interview since Israel struck Iran, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israeli intelligence found that Iran had enough uranium to build nine nuclear bombs but did not provide any evidence for that claim,” the Times said. The “did not provide evidence” phrase is a tic that the Times uses against people it doesn’t like in order to signal to readers that what those people say cannot be trusted.
The Times itself reported in December 2024, “Iran already has enough of a stockpile to make the fuel for four weapons in a matter of weeks or days.” Another recent Times article commented on Netanyahu’s claim of nine weapons by noting, “Other experts put the figure slightly higher, at 10, but the actual number would depend on how efficiently the Iranians prove to be at producing a warhead or a bomb.”
How much more evidence does the Times want? On June 9, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency spoke publicly about Iran, saying, “The agency cannot ignore the stockpiling of over 400 kg of highly enriched uranium.” An analysis put out the same day by the Institute for Science and International Security of the May 31, 2025, IAEA quarterly monitoring report says, “Iran can convert its current stock of 60 percent enriched uranium into 233 kg of WGU in three weeks at the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant (FFEP), enough for 9 nuclear weapons, taken as 25 kg of weapon-grade uranium (WGU) per weapon … Iran could produce its first quantity of 25 kg of WGU in Fordow in as little as two to three days … Breaking out in both Fordow and the Natanz Fuel Enrichment Plant (FEP), the two facilities together could produce enough WGU for 11 nuclear weapons in the first month, enough for 15 nuclear weapons by the end of the second month, 19 by the end of the third month, 21 by the end of the fourth month, and 22 by the end of the fifth month.”
I guess the Times could litigate that Netanyahu is eliding the conversion from highly enriched to weapon-grade, but he’s giving a wartime television interview, not a technical nuclear briefing.
So, when the Times complains that Netanyahu “did not provide any evidence,” the newspaper is just displaying its own bias and lack of knowledge about the context, as surely as it did in the other examples. One thing for which there is surely a lot of evidence: the Times‘s own weak grasp of basic details, history, and context for the events unfolding in the Middle East.
Ira Stoll was managing editor of The Forward and North American editor of The Jerusalem Post. He writes frequently at TheEditors.com. His media critique, a regular Algemeiner feature, can be found here.
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Antisemitic Incidents in Argentina Surge by 15% Amid Global Rise, New Report Finds
Argentina’s President Javier Milei attends a commemoration event ahead of the anniversary of the 1994 bombing attack on the Argentine Israeli Mutual Association (AMIA) community center, marking the 30th anniversary of the attack, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, July 17, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Martin Cassarini
Argentina experienced a 15 percent increase in reported antisemitic incidents last year, as the Hamas-led massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and the ensuing war in the Middle East sparked a rise in hate crimes, according to a report issued by the country’s Jewish umbrella organization on Thursday.
The Delegation of Argentine Israelite Associations (DAIA) presented the 2024 Annual Report on Antisemitism in Argentina, which recorded 687 anti-Jewish hate crimes — up from 598 antisemitic incidents in 2023 — marking a notable surge in antisemitic activity in the country.
According to the report, X and Facebook were the main platforms where hate messages were spread. However, antisemitic incidents also increased in public spaces, schools, and even neighborhoods.
“Hate may change its form, but it never truly disappears,” DAIA said in a post on X. “Behind every statistic is a story — a person, a community, a wound.”
El odio se transforma, pero no desaparece.
El Informe Anual sobre Antisemitismo en la Argentina 2024 presentado hoy por la DAIA registró 687 denuncias recibidas, un aumento del 15 por respecto al año anterior.
El ataque del 7 de octubre y la guerra en Medio Oriente reactivaron… pic.twitter.com/euEodYmswF— DAIA (@DAIAArgentina) June 19, 2025
The study indicates that 66 percent of the antisemitic incidents originated in the digital realm, with a significant rise in Nazi symbols and conspiracy theories.
There was also a 34 percent increase in reported physical assaults, with such hate crimes rising in schools and neighborhoods.
“At DAIA, we are committed every day to raising awareness, reporting, and eliminating antisemitism in all its forms,” the organization said in a statement. “Because staying silent is part of the problem.”
The report explains that the Hamas-led invasion of southern Israel has triggered a surge in antisemitic expressions, with 39.5 percent of the hate crimes involving discourse related to the war in Gaza, followed by 23.5 percent involving Nazi symbolism.
Argentina has been hardly alone in reporting a surge in anti-Jewish crimes. According to the World Zionist Organization and the Jewish Agency for Israel, there was a staggering 340 percent increase in total antisemitic incidents worldwide in 2024 compared to 2022.
For example, the United States reported a 288 percent increase in antisemitic atrocities last year compared to 2022, while Canada experienced a 562 percent surge over the same period.
In Europe, France saw a surge of over 350 percent in antisemitic incidents, while the United Kingdom recorded a 450 percent spike, with nearly 2,000 acts of antisemitism in just the first half of 2024.
In South Africa, antisemitic incidents rose by 185 percent, while Australia experienced a sharp increase of 387 percent.
At the global level, the report found that 41 percent of incidents involved antisemitic propaganda, 15.5 percent included acts of violence, and around 25 percent were related to Israel.
The research also revealed that online antisemitism surged, rising by more than 300 percent.
With Argentine President Javier Milei among the most vocal supporters of Israel, Argentina has become a key player in global efforts to combat antisemitism and terrorism, while defending democracy and Israel’s right to exist.
Last year, for example, more than 30 countries led by the United States adopted “global guidelines for countering antisemitism” during a gathering of special envoys and other representatives from around the globe in Argentina.
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Massive Times Square Billboard Denounces ‘Free Palestine’ Movement for Contributing to Rise in Antisemitism
A digital billboard in Times Square organized by the Coalition for Jewish Values that condemns the “Free Palestine” movement. Photo: Provided
A Jewish organization representing more than 2,500 Orthodox rabbis launched a billboard campaign in Times Square on Wednesday that condemns the “Free Palestine” movement for fueling the deadly rise of antisemitism in the US after the attacks in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, The Algemeiner has learned.
The 10-second digital advertisement, organized by the Coalition for Jewish Values (CJV), reads: “Free Palestine = Support for Hamas = Calling for Genocide of Jews. America, Wake Up. It Never Ends With the Jews!” The ad will appear multiple times per hour and be live in Times Square for 30 days, according to CJV.
“When students on college campuses chant ‘From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,’ America itself is at risk,” said CJV Executive Vice President Rabbi Yaakov Menken in a released statement. “We call upon all Americans to join us in speaking clearly about who and what the bloodthirsty ‘Free Palestine’ movement stands for, and the need to stamp it out.” CJV is the largest rabbinic public policy organization in America.
The United States has recorded more than 10,000 antisemitic incidents since the Hamas-led massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, according to data presented to the Israeli parliament’s Immigration, Absorption, and Diaspora Commission in January.
Since then, a terrorist set fire to the official residence of Jewish Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro because of the arsonist’s support for “Palestine” and the Palestinian people; two Israeli Embassy workers were murdered in Washington, DC, by a gunman who shouted “Free Palestine” before being arrested; and a man who threw Molotov cocktails at people rallying in Boulder, Colorado, for the Israeli hostages in the Gaza Strip yelled “Free Palestine” during the terror attack.
At a congressional vigil last week for the two Israeli embassy employees murdered in May, US House Speaker Mike Johnson said “the ‘Free Palestine’ call has become a violent movement that collaborates with Hamas.”
“Too many Jewish organizations are afraid to say what Speaker Johnson finds obvious: the cry of ‘Free Palestine’ is the call of domestic terrorists,” said Menken. “Israel is the only free country in the Middle East. The one thing Israel is not free of is Jews, and that is what ‘Free Palestine’ aims to correct, in the model of Hitler’s Final Solution. They have no interest in building a nation but destroying one. They do not want to elevate Palestinian Arabs, but to eradicate Jews. This is classic antisemitism, and history proves that there is no greater danger to the continuity of a civilization.”
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