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I was the victim of settler violence in the West Bank. Looking away from it will endanger all of us.

(JTA) — Last Friday, I experienced firsthand — again — the dangers of life in the West Bank right now.

I had joined Rabbi Arik Ascherman, the director of the Israeli human rights NGO Torat Tzedek, to deliver food to a Palestinian community whose residents are fleeing due to Jewish settler violence. Afterward, we were accompanying residents of yet another village — a small community located near the Palestinian town of Turmus Aya — that is also fleeing settler violence.

While there, about a dozen settlers showed up, many of them armed. They attacked Rabbi Ascherman, who had blocked the road with his car and then exited the vehicle. I was filming from the passenger’s seat inside the car, and one settler entered the unlocked driver’s side door. He repeatedly demanded I give him the keys, which I did not have. I was filming him, but he grabbed my phone out of my hands. Rabbi Ascherman’s car was also stolen during the incident.

As I began exiting the car, the same settler who stole my phone told me, “Take one more step and you’re finished. I’ve already seen enough to do it.” Several soldiers, including an officer, quickly arrived on the scene, but they made no effort to detain our assailants or ensure our phones were returned.

After the incident, Rabbi Ascherman planned to file a police report. I told him that I wouldn’t be able to join.

I had a good reason. In May 2021, against the backdrop of rampant violence throughout Israel-Palestine and the war between Israel and Hamas, I was attacked by settlers. After that attack, I called the police. They arrived at the scene and told me that I was a suspect and needed to come to the police station. At the station, I was interrogated for two hours. This interrogation largely consisted of bad-faith questions such as “Are you a terrorist?” and “What were you wearing?” Two days later, I had a panic attack. Having been arrested for the crime of which I was the victim, I was too traumatized to put myself through that again.

On Oct. 7, Hamas invaded southern Israel, killing 1,400 Israelis and kidnapping over 200 civilians. Since then, Israel has been engaging in a nonstop bombardment of the Gaza Strip; one of the most densely populated areas on Earth. More than 8,000 Palestinians, including 3,000 children, have died, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza.

Related: In the West Bank, spiking violence and an idle economy spur fears of a broadening conflict

Meanwhile, since Oct. 7, more than 100 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank have been killed, mostly by soldiers but also by settlers, sometimes seemingly working together. In one instance, four Palestinians were killed by armed settlers who entered the Palestinian village of Qusra. Israeli human rights group B’tselem said of the incident that “settlers are utilizing the fact that public attention is focused elsewhere to … add fuel to the fire of violence.” Two more Palestinians were killed at the subsequent funeral. The Palestinian communities in the villages of Zanuta, Wadi Al-Siq and more have fled due to settler violence. According to the left-wing Israeli NGO Eyes on the Occupation, 10 West Bank Palestinian communities have fled since Oct. 7.

In Wadi Al-Siq, soldiers and settlers were accused of binding, stripping, beating and urinating on three Palestinians, and zip-tying and stealing the phones of Israeli activists. Some of the attackers wearing military uniforms were identified as settlers from nearby illegal outposts.

In the village of Tuwani, located in the Masafer Yatta region, a settler is seen in a video shooting a Palestinian point-blank in the stomach. A soldier was seen escorting the shooter away from the scene.

With Israeli and international media attention almost entirely focused on Gaza, reporting has lagged on the violence currently taking place in the West Bank. Giving short shrift the West Bank has exacerbated the already existing trend in which the victims of right-wing violence in the West Bank are reluctant to report their crimes to the police.

According to Israeli human rights NGO Yesh Din,  between 2013 and 2015, out of “416 cases of ideologically-motivated violence, 43% of the victims of these incidents clearly stated an unwillingness to file a complaint with the Israeli police.” This percentage is sure to rise given the current political landscape. A source close to the shooting victim in Tuwani informed me that that family did not bother going to the police.

Sometimes, victims of settler violence do not go to the police because it seems like a waste of time. In cases like mine, traumatic experiences with the police and the fear of more trauma discourage victims from coming forward. In Wadi Al-Siq, state actors took part in the crime in the first place.

With all eyes on the Gaza Strip, what little accountability police and settlers faced in the West Bank may disappear. It is not in spite of the horrors occurring in Gaza, but because of them, that we must pay more attention to the similar horrors occurring throughout the West Bank.

Since the Holocaust, the story of Jewish peoplehood has been one of trauma. But inflicting trauma upon others will not heal us, and no amount of violence or killing — in Gaza or in the West Bank — will bring anyone back to life or make us safer. The violence in the West Bank is sure to invite retaliation and endanger all of us.


The post I was the victim of settler violence in the West Bank. Looking away from it will endanger all of us. appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War

Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa

Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.

Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.

“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”

GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’

Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.

“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.

“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.

“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.

After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”

RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL

Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”

Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.

“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.

She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”

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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests

A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco

Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.

People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.

“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”

Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.

On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.

Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.

On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.

“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.

Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.

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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan

Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas

Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.

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