Israel's prime minister met with top security officials to assess a rising tide of Israeli settler violence in the West Bank, an Israeli official said Friday, as he faces increasing US pressure to halt the flare-up that could undermine Washington's peace plan for Gaza.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened his security cabinet late Thursday, bringing together officials from the military, the country's domestic security service Shin Bet and police to discuss the recent spike in violence, according to an Israeli official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not permitted to talk about a closed-door meeting.
The Prime Minister’s Office did not immediately respond to request for comment about what was discussed at the meeting. The Israeli official said there would be a follow-up meeting.
Washington is hoping Israel can contain the rising settler violence to avoid jeopardizing the UN Security Council-approved US plan for Gaza, which authorizes an international force to provide security and envisions a possible path to an independent Palestinian state.
Netanyahu has called the perpetrators “a handful of extremists” and urged law enforcement to pursue them for “the attempt to take the law into their own hands.” But rights groups and Palestinians say the problem is far greater than a few bad apples, and attacks have become a daily phenomenon across the territory.
Israel’s government is dominated by far-right proponents of the settler movement including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who formulates settlement policy, and Cabinet minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who oversees the nation’s police force.
The UN Humanitarian office reported that October saw the highest number of Israeli settler attacks since it began tracking in 2006, with more than 260 incidents causing injuries or property damage. That's on top of 2,660 settler attacks recorded this year through the end of September.
The security cabinet meeting comes a day after Israel's Civil Administration announced plans to expropriate large swaths of Sebastia, a major archaeological site in the West Bank. Peace Now, an anti-settlement watchdog group, said the site is around 1,800 dunams (450 acres) — Israel’s largest seizure of archaeologically important land.
Separately, Israeli settlers celebrated the creation of a new, unauthorized settlement near Bethlehem.
