Twelve hours after Israeli settlers brutally attacked several Palestinians and set up a new illegal outpost in their village, Israeli forces intervened.
But instead of detaining settlers or dismantling illegal outposts, the soldiers targeted the Palestinian residents of Tayasir and the CNN team that was covering the incursion.
“Stop! Sit down! Sit down!” one of the Israelis shouted, his rifle aimed directly at us and the Palestinians we were talking to.
Seventy-three seconds later, one of the soldiers approached CNN photojournalist Cyril Theophilos from behind, strangled him, pushed him to the ground and damaged his camera.
Within minutes, we and several other Palestinians in the area were detained by soldiers.
The two hours we spent in their custody revealed the settler ideology that motivates many soldiers operating in the occupied West Bank, and the ways in which soldiers often act on behalf of the settler movement. Their comments are based on a wealth of evidence documented by journalists, activists, and Palestinians that shows Israeli soldiers assisting or standing by as Israeli settlers attack Palestinians or violate Palestinian land.
One Israeli soldier, who gave his name as Meir, admitted that the settler outpost he was guarding in Tayasil was illegal under Israeli law, which deems settlements established in violation of international law legal.
“But this will be a legal settlement,” Meir said. “Slowly, slowly”
When asked if he was contributing to making that happen, he quickly answered: “Of course…I help people.”
Meir was explaining the colonists’ strategy. The idea was to establish an outpost on Palestinian land, rely on protection or inaction from Israeli soldiers, and ultimately secure a government decree legalizing the outpost. The current Israeli government, the most right-wing in the country’s history, has legalized dozens of such outposts since Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
Meir and another soldier (the one who attacked Theophilos) echoed the words of far-right government ministers and repeatedly declared that all of the West Bank belonged to Israel and the Jews. They also called all Palestinians terrorists and spoke of revenge.
The soldiers said they were friends with Israeli settler Yehuda Sherman, 18. Israeli authorities say the man was killed when a Palestinian driver crashed into his ATV. Palestinians in the area dispute this account, saying Mr Sherman was trying to steal sheep from the Palestinians.
“If you had a brother and they killed him, what would you have done?” asked one of the soldiers.
We said, “Is that what you mean by revenge?”
“Revenge,” Meir replied.
When asked if it was normal for soldiers to carry out revenge, he said: “At the end of the day, if the state doesn’t address what they did, the murderers of our young people…what do we expect from them?”
Settler violence surged after the October 7 Hamas attack, driven by a dangerous combination of retaliation and Israeli government actions to expand settlements in the West Bank.
The attacks, which are increasingly seen by Israeli human rights activists and journalists as Jewish terrorism, have surged again in recent weeks amid the country’s high-profile war with Iran.
“The actions and conduct of the soldiers in this incident are inconsistent with what is expected of IDF (Israel Defense Forces) soldiers operating in the Judea and Samaria region,” the Israeli military told CNN. The military said it would “thoroughly investigate” the incident, but did not respond to CNN’s questions about the settler outposts covered in the report or the rise in settler violence in the West Bank.
Abdullah Daraghmeh lying in a hospital bed is evidence of that violence. The 75-year-old was left bloody and bruised, his face swollen from the brutal assault that left him with a fractured skull, multiple bones in his face and teeth pulled out.
His family and witnesses in Tayasil said settlers raided his house in the middle of the night and beat him.
Sami Daragmeh said she found her father covered in blood in his bed.
“He was asleep,” his son said. “This is not normal.”
Settlers attacked Tayasir early Thursday, firing guns into the air and hitting several Palestinians, residents said. By dawn, a new outpost was established in the village.
“This is my home. I don’t dare sleep there,” said resident Imad Dabak, looking down at the new outpost near his home. “I’m taking the kids out tonight.”
He said the military has shown no intention of removing settlers from outposts.
If the settlers returned, he said, they would have no choice but to record them.
“When they come, I just hold my phone and the film…I can’t push them or touch them. If they don’t kill me, I’ll be taken away by the police and put in jail,” Dabak said. “The camera is my only weapon. It’s the only thing that can prove I’m innocent.”
