As fires ravage France and Spain, another fire is spreading through the West Bank, with arsonists operating with complete impunity and even receiving encouragement from those who should be acting as firefighters: an Israeli government that is both cowardly and complicit.
Since the October 7 massacre, the most violent settlers in the Palestinian territories of the West Bank have seized an opportunity to exploit the situation, multiplying punitive raids, attacks on Palestinian civilians, and arson attacks.
In recent days, incidents have followed one another, the most serious of which resulted in the deaths of six people – two Israelis and four Palestinians – in an incident whose circumstances remain disputed.
As in the Gironde, the fire engulfing the West Bank is spreading all the more because the ground is particularly favorable: years of avoiding or denying the issue for some, and years of deliberately creating the conditions for such a conflagration for others, particularly on the far Right of the political spectrum.
Violent settler attacks are not an accident but the result of a process that has been unfolding for years, facilitated by the passivity and complicity of a government giving them a free hand. The firefighters who should be putting out the flames – the government, the army, and the police – have themselves been infiltrated by arsonists, some of whom have even risen to the top of these institutions.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, a former lawyer for some of the most violent settlers, who was himself convicted of racism and incitement to violence and who, one week before Rabin’s assassination, had boasted about having approached his car.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, another far-right figure, who is also a minister within the Defense Ministry, in charge of civilian affairs – that is, the settlers who effectively benefit from a special regime in the West Bank.
Smotrich therefore has the power to allocate budgets to them and to make any political solution unworkable through the expansion of settlements, as he himself has acknowledged. His superior within the Defense Ministry is Defense Minister Israel Katz – an incompetent political cipher – focused on his political future and unwilling to take action against violent settlers who are multiplying their attacks in the West Bank.
Finally, the recent appointment of David Zini – himself a settler and a far-right figure – as head of the Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic security service, is further proof that the firefighters responsible for stopping or monitoring the arsonists are themselves incendiaries, fanning the flames of violence.
Situation in the West Bank could get worse
The situation in the West Bank could deteriorate even further, much to the delight of these extremists, who see an opportunity to implement their political vision: an organized or “encouraged” expulsion of Palestinians that would allow them to annex the West Bank without having to govern its Palestinian population – or at least as few Palestinians as possible.
This extremist position is not shared by the majority of Israelis, even those traumatized by the October 7 massacre who might fear a similar offensive, this time coming from the West Bank. Nor is it even a majority position within the current government, as evidenced by remarks attributed to Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, who referred to violent settlers as a “cancer that is metastasizing.”
The problem today is both Netanyahu’s willingness and his ability to extinguish a fire he has helped ignite, with men responsible for putting it out who are either unwilling or incapable of doing so, while facing fanatics prepared to do anything to implement this scorched-earth policy – especially ahead of an election in which he is struggling and does not want to be accused of “weakness” or “betrayal” by the far Right.
His cynicism could even lead him to allow the situation to deteriorate in order to push Israeli voters toward the Right and the far Right, in the logic of the firefighter turned arsonist.
As Netanyahu’s tenure draws to a close, his record is one of internal division, international isolation, and the worst security catastrophe in the country’s history. It also includes the strengthening of extremist fanatics prepared to set the region ablaze at the expense of Palestinians and any political solution, as well as the deterioration of the country’s standing among the nations of the world.
His departure from power is now a matter of public safety for the country, allowing it to start anew on a different foundation and rise from the ashes left behind by fascist and messianic thugs.