A breakdown of data presented by the UN, left-wing organizations, and the Shin Bet, was delivered in a study conducted by Regavim, the movement for the protection of Israel’s land and resources. Information provided by the police, which spans the past decade, also shatters the illusion of claims of inadequate law enforcement in cases of Jewish nationalist crime.

By Kalman Libeskind | 04/11/2025 (11 April, 2025)

For years an organized, funded campaign has been under way in an attempt to create a phenomenon of acts of violence carried out by Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria. Over the course of years, this campaign has been fueled by massive investments from foreign countries to local left-wing organizations. But now it is time. After all these years of campaigning; following years of UN monitoring reports recounting falsified stories that have circulated around the world; in the wake of American-imposed sanctions on dejected Israelis, as though they were the masterminds of South American crime syndicates; after the directors of the Shin Bet have played their part by exaggerating the nature of events for the purposes of depicting them as a grave danger to us all; not to mention the further 50 steps taken by the head of the Shin Bet’s Jewish division, as revealed this week in recordings exposed by journalist Ayala Hasson of the Kan 11 channel, where he is heard justifying the arrest of settlers, without any presenting evidence of violence whatsoever; once we have led various entities around the world to forget the Jewish blood that spilled and flowed the earth like water, in a war declared on us, where the Arabs were not necessarily the victims; after all this has been said and done, it is time to let the facts speak for themselves.

In a comprehensive study undertaken by the Regavim movement, the data, reports, and claims were investigated, and subsequently pulled to pieces in the form of a long and detailed report. Line by line, researchers at Regavim discredited the entities involved; they refuted the UN database, the fabricated reports from the Palestinian Authority, and publications of the Israeli left-wing organizations. They compared them to incidents on the ground, as well as with data from the past decade supplied by the Israel Police, resulting in the compilation and presentation of a rather disturbing report.

Indeed, Judea and Samaria has its share of violent residents, just as there are thieves and burglars in Ness Ziona, or fraudulent writers of checks in Nahariya. However, too many entities with their own agenda in Israel and abroad have an interest in documenting these few incidents in an attempt to convince the world that this is a phenomenon that requires the shaping of their conclusions into policy.

In the past, I undertook a little exercise here. I looked at the number of incidents of Jewish violence among residents of Judea and Samaria over the course of a year, and I looked at the number of sexual offenses that take place in Tel Aviv annually. I showed that in relation to population size, the phenomenon of sex crimes in Tel Aviv is more severe than crimes of a nationalist nature committed by Jewish people in Judea and Samaria, yet no one treats the Tel Aviv spate of crimes as a matter of concern.

Two and a half years ago, I exposed a list of incidents of settler violence compiled by the Shin Bet. It turned out that some of those incidents made no mention of any violence. Another portion of the incidents indicated evidence of violence that did not necessarily materialize from the Jewish side. Despite all this, somehow these incidents were grouped together, suggesting that the Jews of Judea and Samaria are a group with an extremely dangerous potential for violence.

For example, the list included a “demonstration of extreme right-wing activists on Saturday night, outside the Tel Aviv home of the justice minister.” Additionally, there was a report of a “settler arrested for insulting a police officer.”

The list comprised “incidents of friction,” from which we have gathered that every altercation between Jews and Arabs, at times even without physical contact, is recorded by the Shin Bet as an incident of violence on the part of the Jew. An example is “physical friction between 100 Palestinians and 100 settlers,” which ended with a Jewish resident getting hurt and was considered a Jewish nationalist attack. On what basis? For no reason.

As mentioned, I have publicized this before. The data collected by Regavim, which I will discuss in the lines that follow, will prove even further the danger and falsehood of the worldwide campaign on this subject. 

Dog Bites Also Count

Let’s begin with the United Nations, which compiles periodic monitoring reports following incidents of “settler violence.” Moreover, under the subject of “settler violence,” the website of the United Nations Office Coordination for Human Affairs (OCHA), presents a database of supposedly violent incidents carried out by Jews and Palestinians, which resulted in bodily injury.

At the core of this database, the UN maintains and regularly updates a detailed spreadsheet of incidents “involving Israeli settlers and other Israeli civilians,” which have occurred in the “West Bank” or Israel (but not Gaza) since January 2017 through to April 2023. Researchers at Regavim analyzed the table, which outlines 8,332 incidents of alleged violence carried out during this time period, and discovered the findings to be false and exaggerated, and bearing very little relation to the reality.

The UN’s list distinguishes between 2,047 incidents of violence against Israelis and 6,285 incidents of violence against Palestinians. I think we can all agree that this number is high. However, a reading of the list shows that the vast majority of incidents did not involve settler-related violence, and certainly no violence initiated by Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria towards Palestinians.

To this extent, of the approximately 6,285 violent incidents against Palestinians that allegedly occurred during this period, 1,704 did not occur in Judea and Samaria, but in Jerusalem. Another 1,361 incidents involved Jews going up to the Temple Mount or clashes on the Temple Mount between the security forces and rioting Muslims. No settlers were involved in these disputes, despite the UN regarding every ascent by a Jew to the Temple Mount as “settler violence.”

Furthermore, behind 1,613 reports of alleged violence in Judea and Samaria, are general complaints such as “trespassing” in the context of hiking and tourist groups, complaints that do not involve any assault or damage to property or people. Another 96 incidents are connected to work on the ground carried out by the State of Israel, such as paving roads, laying down infrastructure, and the like, of which neither contains any element of violence nor involves residents of Judea and Samaria. An additional 2,039 complaints reflect claims of assault or damage to property without bodily harm.

If these events are indeed true, which is worth investigating, they are malicious events and they should not have taken place; however they should not be included in this UN database that purports them to be about bodily assault. After excluding all reports that do not entail settler violence, we are left with 833 incidents, which is approximately 10% of the original number. However, this is not over yet.

These 833 incidents are said to have occurred over a period of seven and a half years. Of them, 404 describe “involvement in conflict,” meaning an incident involving two sides, yet it does not determine who initiated the dispute. Furthermore, while the list claims to present clashes that occurred between Arabs of Judea and Samaria and Israeli civilians, approximately 117 of the 833 incidents state that the perpetrators were “security forces” and not Israeli civilians.

Most absurd, is that examination of these cases indicates that dozens of them do not refer to settler violence, but quite the contrary. They are accounts of Arab terror attacks against Jews, which resulted in injury or elimination of a terrorist. Here is an example: A case of terrorists who threw rocks on Israeli vehicles driving along Highway 60. One of the terrorists sustained injuries from a gunshot fired in self-defense by a person in one of the vehicles. The UN report describes this incident as settler violence.

Another example: Arab rioters blocked the passage of an Israeli vehicle travelling on the main road in Samaria. They attacked the vehicle and smashed the windshield. The Israeli driver, whose vehicle was blocked by a Palestinian ambulance, opened fire in order to protect his own life and one of the rioters was killed. The UN categorized this event as “settler violence.”  

A further example speaks of a Palestinian terrorist who arrived at the entrance to the Karmei Tzur community and stabbed a security guard in his hand. A second security guard who was present, shot and killed the terrorist. The report concludes that this event was “settler violence.”

The above are just examples. There are more. Other incidents have been classified as settler violence, even though they clearly are not, such as a road accident in which Arab residents of Judea and Samaria were hurt, and even an Arab worker who was bitten by a dog in the Jewish community where he was employed.

When the Perpetrators Are Victims

Another updated UN database presents the number of Palestinians and Israels killed or wounded in violent incidents in Judea and Samaria, East Jerusalem, and Gaza in a manner as though medical treatment was required.

According to the supplementary explanatory notes, the count includes those killed or wounded in incidents related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which occurred in the area we call "Little Israel,” and in which Arab residents of Judea and Samaria were involved. Monitoring began in 2017, and it has grown to include incidents from previous years, going back to 2006. 

The UN database allegedly distinguishes between violence against settlers and Israeli citizens, and violence against Palestinians. However, the findings of the Regavim study raised that more than 98% of cases listed in the document titled “Settler-Related Violence” are unrelated to residents of Judea and Samaria, or even to non-resident Israeli civilians, but pertain to clashes between Palestinians and security forces.

The same goes for 6,802 cases of Palestinian deaths out of a total of 6,868. Likewise for 155,795 cases of injured Palestinians from a total of 158,608 cases. Only 57 cases of Palestinian deaths (of a total of 6,868, as mentioned) involve Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria.

What is more, is that here, too, the database includes Palestinian victims of “settler violence” as those who were injured or killed in response to attacks and assaults the Palestinians themselves initiated against Israelis. It is inconceivable how easily these lies can be sold to the world, with impunity.

Shin Bet – A Law Unto Itself

After reviewing the unsubstantiated lists of the UN, which seem to have contributed highly to the worldwide discourse on “settler violence,” Regavim approached the Shin Bet and the Israel Police with the request to obtain a list of all incidents of nationalist crimes that occurred in Israel during the decade of 2014-2024.

It is important to note here, that incomprehensibly, there is no official body that openly and transparently publicizes a list of these incidents. Politicians speak out about them, Shin Bet officials inform you of them, police investigators scrutinize them, but no one is prepared to present the list to the public so that we can judge for ourselves what these events are meant to be, without having to rely on campaigns funded by countries with vested interests.

Whatever the case may be, the Shin Bet responded to Regavim, stating that the Freedom of Information Law does not apply to them, and therefore they have no intention of handing over data. In contrast, the Israel Police delivered a large compilation of different breakdowns of data, which tells a completely different story to what we have heard so far.

From 2014-2024, a total of 537 cases of investigation were opened against suspects of Jewish nationalist crime in Judea and Samaria. Since each case can contain a number of offenses related to the same suspect for the same incident, the 537 cases include a total of 1,443 offenses..

There are 335 offenses that deal with suspicion of violent acts of a nationalist nature across the full spectrum of severity, from minor acts through to serious offenses. There are another 885 offenses that deal with suspicion of carrying out non-violent offenses. The remainder of the incidents concerns accompanying offenses that are not at all relevant to the subject in question.

To explain the disparity between Arabs and Jews, let us point out that according to data from the IDF, between 2019-2022 alone - that is in less than half the time period measured for Jews - there were 24,808 incidents of stone-throwing and Molotov cocktails carried out by Arabs which do not include serious injuries, shootings, planting of explosives, and the like. 

Now we will get to the heart of the matter: You may be familiar with the claim that the State of Israel does not enforce the law against Israeli residents of Judea and Samaria. If we look at the numbers over the past decade, 9% of cases of Jewish nationalist crime in Judea and Samaria resulted in an indictment. Does that number seem too low?

Take a look at the following numbers: So far as it concerns Jewish nationalist crime in all of Israel - not in Judea and Samaria alone - 10% of investigations led to an indictment. The data is similar.

In contrast, in cases of Arab nationalist crime throughout the country, only 3% of investigations led to indictment. In other words, the percentage of investigated cases of Jewish nationalist crime resulting in indictment in Judea and Samaria is three times higher than the percentage of Arab nationalist crime cases in all of Israel. That is to say, not only does under-enforcement not apply to Jews in Judea and Samaria, but the converse is true.

Now let us discuss convictions: Although three times as many indictments were filed against Jews in Judea and Samaria for nationalist crimes than against Arabs who allegedly committed similar offenses throughout the country, the number of convictions shows that the prosecution acted too quicky to indict the Jews. 

When we look at more numbers, 56% of Arabs accused of nationalist crime across all of Israel were convicted, as opposed to 36% of Jews convicted of nationalist crimes throughout Israel. As for nationalist crimes perpetrated by Jews in Judea and Samaria, the percentage of convictions is even lower and stands at 31%.

What does this tell us? Not only are many more indictments filed against Jews, but they are convicted at a much lower rate. In other words, the prosecution does not treat them with silk gloves, as has been claimed on numerous occasions, but to the contrary; the prosecution files indictment charges against them when there probably isn’t anything to file, which, where we come from, is generally defined as “over-enforcement.” 

Is this the prosecution’s surrender to the campaign that’s running rampant against the residents of Judea and Samaria? Are these the Shin Bet’s definitions of potential disaster inflicted by violent settlers, leading the prosecution to file many indictments, even in borderline cases? We don’t know. But the facts speak for themselves.

And perhaps, some may claim, settler violence is far more widespread, yet the Arabs of Judea and Samaria don’t trouble themselves with filing complaints of Jewish abuse against them. According to claims made by the left-wing organization, Yesh Din, in 2024 66% of Palestinian victims of crime waived their right to file a complaint against Israelis who assaulted them. Does that sound like a large number to you?

A report issued by the Knesset Research and Information Center determined that as of 2023, the rate of police reports stands at 26%. This means that 74% of victims of offenses throughout all of Israel did not file a police complaint. In that case, the rate of complaints filed by Arabs in Judea and Samaria is not lower than the rest of the country. It is possibly slightly higher. 

And perhaps the statement made by Deputy Chief of Police Avishai Mualem and commander in the Central Unit of the Judea and Samaria police district, at the Knesset Subcommittee for Judea and Samaria in March 2024, provides an answer for many questions that have been raised: “Since the outbreak of the war, there has been a rise in the number of cases and complaints filed by Palestinians and anarchists, whereby 191 cases were opened, and of which 90 were found to be fabricated among the southern Mount Hebron sector. Most of the accusations are filed by extreme left-wing organizations, who are generally based in Tel Aviv, and complain of violence by right-wing activists. In the Jordan Valley, we are talking about 70 incidents, of which 50% also turned out to be fabricated.”

A Booming Murder Enterprise

We need to understand that this huge gap between the facts on the ground and the picture portrayed by the worldwide blood-libel campaign, was not created by chance. There are active left-wing organizations in Israel, such as Yesh Din and B’Tselem, which are funded by enormous sums from the European Union, European states, and international foundations. They are igniting a global fire and investing a lot of work to develop a narrative of “settler violence.”

Some of them raise funds on behalf of the same fabricated story they have woven, which they also have a business interest in fueling. These organizations and the UN, as well as the Palestinians of course, are to a great extent responsible for the tall tales that have emerged, 

So, as I stated at the start, for the benefit of those interested, it is important to put the facts on the table. Indeed there are a few dozen significant cases of nationalist crime each year perpetrated by Jews, with most of them being property crimes and a few consisting of physical injury. At the same time, there is Arab terror, real terror, which strikes the Israelis - both soldiers and civilians, men, women, and children – on scales that are inconceivable. 

We must look at the proportions, the discrepancies in the numbers, the number of Jewish victims compared to the number of Arab victims, so that we can ask in whose interest it is to focus on a few dozen Jewish criminals, instead of facing the vast Arab enterprise of murder that operates at the same time.

The law enforcement authorities have to deal with every criminal, but when Shin Bet Director Ronen Bar, and Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi arrive at a small cabinet meeting in October 2023, a moment after the outbreak of a major war, and find it appropriate to warn the small cabinet specifically about settler violence, you can understand for yourself who these statements stand to serve.