The Biden administration and senior Israeli officials have recently lamented that there are settlers who have been "taking the law into their own hands in Judea and Samaria" during the recent Gaza war, but Israel Hayom has learned that official police statistics point to a drastic decrease in the cases of illegal activity by Israelis beyond the Green Line.
Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram
According to the exclusive figures shared by Israel Hayom, compared to the same period last year, there has been an overall decrease of almost 50% in which Jews engaged in violent offenses in Judea and Samaria.
The data shows that in the period starting on October 7, when the war began, and November 7, there were 97 incidents of various illegal activities attributed to Jews, in that area, down from 184 offenses in the equivalent period in 2022.
The decrease is observed across the whole spectrum of offenses:: violent clashes (20 compared to 53), popular terrorism (47 compared to 103), violent attacks (5 compared to 10), assaults on security forces (4 compared to 10), and agricultural vandalism (97 compared to 184). In the category of "serious attacks," which usually concern US officials the most, there were zero incidents in the measured 30 days, compared to 3 incidents during the same period a year earlier.
These figures contradict the claims of the American government that there is supposedly an increase in incidents of "extremist settler violence" in Judea and Samaria.
US Vice President Kamala Harris spoke with Israeli President Isaac Herzog three days ago and told him that it was essential to " hold extremist settlers accountable for violent acts." President Biden himself has made similar statements to Prime Minister Netanyahu in their recent discussions.
Prime Minister Netanyahu addressed the issue in a recent meeting with the heads of settlements in Judea and Samaria. He stated, "There is a small group of people who do not represent this public, who take the law into their own hands. We are not willing to tolerate it, we are not willing to accept it, and we will act against it in every way. It causes significant international damage to the State of Israel and does not represent the public here."
However, he provided no data to support any uptick in settler violence. The IDF has also told Israel Hayom it has not discerned any such spike in violence among settlers and that the overall situation mimics the October-November period in 2022. They do, however, note that the handful of incidents that did take place this year in that period were of a more violent nature. The Shin Bet security agency refused to comment.
Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!
