[News] Settlers glorify brutal assaults on Palestinians in WhatsApp channel

[Anti-Imperialist News]

english.almayadeen.net 
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/settlers-glorify-brutal-assaults-on-palestinians-in-whatsapp> 



  Settlers glorify brutal assaults on Palestinians in WhatsApp channel

Al Mayadeen English
October 27, 2025
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Israeli settlers document their own crimes in a WhatsApp channel 
celebrating violence against Palestinians amid rising West Bank tensions.

  * Settlers glorify brutal assaults on Palestinians in WhatsApp channel
    <https://alpha-en-media.almayadeen.net/media/image/2025/10/27/253fed3b-e4c7-40ba-b8c6-b202c86c3ee2.jpeg?v=4&width=1000>
    An Israeli settler stands over a woman who was harvesting olives
    after assaulting her, October 19, 2025. (Social media)

A public WhatsApp channel operated by Israeli settlers has openly 
celebrated a surge in violent attacks targeting Palestinians and their 
property across the occupied West Bank 
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/condemnations-of-israeli-west-bank--annexation--bill-continu>. 
The group, known as Anshei Shlomeinu, meaning “Our People” in Hebrew, 
shared a post on Thursday boasting of assaults carried out throughout 
September/October (Hebrew month of Tishrei, which ended on October 22).

The message detailed the number of Palestinian villages attacked, 
tallying incidents of homes and vehicles set ablaze and listing the 
number of “Arabs” injured. “Happy New Month! An overview of the struggle 
against the Arab enemy in the Holy Land in the month of Tishrei,” the 
post began, framing the harrowing settler violence as part of an 
ideological campaign.

According to the channel, settlers burned 33 Palestinian vehicles, 
torched 12 homes, and injured 25 Palestinians during the period. The 
post further stressed that “thousands of olive trees were uprooted,” the 
tires of dozens of cars punctured, and hundreds of windshields smashed. 
It also boasted that “dozens of fields and orchards were set on fire.”

Among the targeted villages were Surif, located south of the Gush Etzion 
settlement bloc near al-Quds, attacked six times; al-Mughayyir, north of 
Ramallah, attacked five times 
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/israeli-settlers-torch-three-palestinian-cars-near-ramallah>; 
and Turmus Ayya, near the Shilo settlement, also attacked five times.


    Accompanying footage and violent imagery

The settlers’ post included a montage of videos documenting these 
attacks, from vandalized property to Palestinians assaulted during the 
olive harvest. One particularly harrowing clip showed a masked settler 
bludgeoning a 52-year-old Palestinian woman in Turmus Ayya as she picked 
olives last week.

The brazenness of these visuals underscored how settler violence 
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/ocha--israeli-settlers-launch-71-attacks-amid-west-bank-oliv>, 
once confined to extremist circles, is increasingly being publicized and 
normalized in open digital spaces.


    Graffiti and claims of responsibility

In recent weeks, the Anshei Shlomeinu name has also appeared at several 
attack sites 
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/israeli-settlers-suffocating-palestinian-shepherds-with-land>. 
In two brutal attacks over the past five weeks, arson and vandalism 
against Palestinian property were accompanied by graffiti attributing 
the assaults to the group.

Just last Friday, multiple vehicles were torched in Deir Dibwan, near 
Ramallah. Graffiti reading “Greetings from Anshei Shlomeinu” and 
“revenge”, alongside a Star of David, was sprayed on nearby walls. A 
similar attack took place on September 19 in Ramun, only seven 
kilometers away, where the same slogan appeared beside another burned 
vehicle.


    Settler channel’s pattern of posts

While Anshei Shlomeinu’s administrators rarely claim responsibility 
outright, their posts frequently track and amplify reports of settler 
violence. The group regularly shares video evidence of incidents, 
captioning them in ways that glorify the perpetrators.

Following the Deir Dibwan attack, the channel posted security footage, 
originally circulated by a Palestinian WhatsApp group, showing four 
settlers setting fire to a car. The caption praised the attackers: 
“Footage of the true soldiers of God working tonight in the Deir Dibwan 
village.”


    Human rights condemnation

The Israeli human rights organization Yesh Din, which monitors settler 
violence and first highlighted Anshei Shlomeinu’s activities, condemned 
both the group and Israeli occupation police for failing to curb settler 
attacks 
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/israeli-forces-detain-13-palestinians--settlers-attack-west>.

“The policies of the Ben Gvir police are expressed not just in the 
increase in number and severity of violent incidents and injury to 
Palestinians by settlers, but also by the fact that they are not afraid 
to take pride in these crimes in public,” the organization said.

Yesh Din warned that this growing impunity has emboldened settlers, most 
notably extremists. “The violent settlers know that they will not be put 
on trial, and their sense of impunity exposes defenseless Palestinians 
to further terrorist violence,” it stressed.

*Read more: West Bank sees 757 Israeli settler attacks in one year 
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/west-bank-sees-757-israeli-settler-attacks-in-one-year>*

**

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://freedomarchives.org/pipermail/news_freedomarchives.org/attachments/20251027/8cdccd7d/attachment-0001.htm>