Settlers glorify brutal assaults on Palestinians in WhatsApp channel
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Israeli settlers document their own crimes in a WhatsApp channel celebrating violence against Palestinians amid rising West Bank tensions.
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An Israeli settler stands over a woman who was harvesting olives after assaulting her, October 19, 2025 (Social media)
A public WhatsApp channel operated by Israeli settlers has openly celebrated a surge in violent attacks targeting Palestinians and their property across the occupied West Bank. The group, known as Anshei Shlomeinu, meaning “Our People” in Hebrew, shared a post on Thursday boasting of assaults carried out throughout September/October (Hebrew month of Tishrei, which ended on October 22).
The message detailed the number of Palestinian villages attacked, tallying incidents of homes and vehicles set ablaze and listing the number of “Arabs” injured. “Happy New Month! An overview of the struggle against the Arab enemy in the Holy Land in the month of Tishrei,” the post began, framing the harrowing settler violence as part of an ideological campaign.
According to the channel, settlers burned 33 Palestinian vehicles, torched 12 homes, and injured 25 Palestinians during the period. The post further stressed that “thousands of olive trees were uprooted,” the tires of dozens of cars punctured, and hundreds of windshields smashed. It also boasted that “dozens of fields and orchards were set on fire.”
Among the targeted villages were Surif, located south of the Gush Etzion settlement bloc near al-Quds, attacked six times; al-Mughayyir, north of Ramallah, attacked five times; and Turmus Ayya, near the Shilo settlement, also attacked five times.
Accompanying footage and violent imagery
The settlers’ post included a montage of videos documenting these attacks, from vandalized property to Palestinians assaulted during the olive harvest. One particularly harrowing clip showed a masked settler bludgeoning a 52-year-old Palestinian woman in Turmus Ayya as she picked olives last week.
An illegal Israeli squatter knocks out an elderly woman unconscious while she was harvesting olives in the village of Al-Mughayyer, north of Ramallah, in the West Bank. pic.twitter.com/hlNV8GE2SE
— alardah (@HAlardah91) October 19, 2025
The brazenness of these visuals underscored how settler violence, once confined to extremist circles, is increasingly being publicized and normalized in open digital spaces.
Graffiti and claims of responsibility
In recent weeks, the Anshei Shlomeinu name has also appeared at several attack sites. In two brutal attacks over the past five weeks, arson and vandalism against Palestinian property were accompanied by graffiti attributing the assaults to the group.
Last week, we published a post from a group of violent settlers who proudly boast about harming innocent Palestinians. Coincidentally or not, in at least two recent incidents where settlers set fire to vehicles in Palestinian villages, they also left behind graffiti reading… pic.twitter.com/cOC6XkRHRP
— Yesh Din English (@Yesh_Din) October 26, 2025
Just last Friday, multiple vehicles were torched in Deir Dibwan, near Ramallah. Graffiti reading “Greetings from Anshei Shlomeinu” and “revenge”, alongside a Star of David, was sprayed on nearby walls. A similar attack took place on September 19 in Ramun, only seven kilometers away, where the same slogan appeared beside another burned vehicle.
Settler channel’s pattern of posts
While Anshei Shlomeinu’s administrators rarely claim responsibility outright, their posts frequently track and amplify reports of settler violence. The group regularly shares video evidence of incidents, captioning them in ways that glorify the perpetrators.
Scenes documenting Israeli settlers setting fire to Palestinian owned vehicles in the village of Deir Dibwan in Dar of Ramallah. pic.twitter.com/pnchAwHtRD
— Eye on Palestine (@EyeonPalestine) October 24, 2025
Following the Deir Dibwan attack, the channel posted security footage, originally circulated by a Palestinian WhatsApp group, showing four settlers setting fire to a car. The caption praised the attackers: “Footage of the true soldiers of God working tonight in the Deir Dibwan village.”
Human rights condemnation
The Israeli human rights organization Yesh Din, which monitors settler violence and first highlighted Anshei Shlomeinu’s activities, condemned both the group and Israeli occupation police for failing to curb settler attacks.
“The policies of the Ben Gvir police are expressed not just in the increase in number and severity of violent incidents and injury to Palestinians by settlers, but also by the fact that they are not afraid to take pride in these crimes in public,” the organization said.
Yesh Din warned that this growing impunity has emboldened settlers, most notably extremists. “The violent settlers know that they will not be put on trial, and their sense of impunity exposes defenseless Palestinians to further terrorist violence,” it stressed.
Read more: West Bank sees 757 Israeli settler attacks in one year
