‘Mole’ in the Inner Cabinet, Israeli Occupation Army acts under Settlers’ command

By: Madeeha Al-A’raj
The National Bureau for Defending Land and Resisting Settlements stated in its latest weekly report , that Israeli media has recently tackled the relationship between the occupation army and the settler gangs, as the Haaretz newspaper reported on 11th of this month ‘shocking news’, as a senior settler in the army leaked secret information to the political leadership on the settlement project! According to the Kan 11, Brigadier General Erez Wiener, head of the operational planning staff in the Southern Command, conveyed to FM Smotrich security information about operational plans in the Gaza Strip. This is an important and disturbing publication.
The *Mole in the Cabinet is an ongoing coordination between the army and the settlers. They are two entities that have become one with blurred borders and shared goals. Smotrich reinforced this position when he proudly declared: ‘if you are looking for a mole, just enter every synagogue in the Religious Zionism, and then you will find scores if not hundredsof soldiers and officers of all ranks there.’
The newspaper added, not only the Israeli Army defends the settlers, but also -function-s under their orders, and serves their ideology. Thus, soldiers provide information to the settlers, helping them disrupt operational activities´-or-evade the law. It is not coincidence that ‘Breaking the Silence’ report of 2016, which correctly described the relationship between the two sides, as the ‘senior leadership’, referring to who decide the status quo on the ground.
Indeed, many reports contain extensive testimonies from soldiers, showing how settlers participate in imposing military rule on Palestinians, order the soldiers, and participate in military decision-making. The kinship ties and access to secret information are exploited to disrupt law enforcement activities -dir-ected against settlers, for example, in the few cases in which the army has acted to thwart Jewish terrorism. A captain served in the Hebron area said that ‘no doubt that we worked under the settlers’ orders.’
Very manyreports on the nature of this relationship, where settlers in the West Bank are given the green light to expand their control, the Jewish terrorists storm villages, burn homes, and abuse residents, but the Israeli soldiers don t stop them, but rather helps them. Left-wing activists report that the army itself leaks information to the settlers, for example, about coordination between the settlers and the army to attack the Palestinian olive pickers.
As for the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, it published a report on 12th of this month that high-ranking military sources revealed a disturbing phenomenon, ‘a rise in crimes committed by Israeli soldiers against Palestinian residents. They claim that the issue is not being handled properly, if at all, by either the units´-or-the military police. The newspaper added, ‘only when there is documentation and confirmation of the event, and when the army fears actions abroad, they take action, even this take place with minimal force and laziness, and after many months, things go by without real punishment. If the complaint comes from a Palestinian, there is no hope that the police will open an investigation. They have done almost nothing against nationalist crime and terrorism by settlers for years, and under Ben-Gvir’s leadership, they have completely stopped.’
The occupation army responds to the lawsuits, claiming that cases brought to the army s attention are dealt with as quickly as possible, in accordance with regulations and laws. However, data indicates that in Jan. and Feb. 2025, there was a sharp increase in nationalist crimes by settlers and other Jewish Israeli citizens against Palestinians in the West Bank, compared to 2024. On a monthly average, this represents an increase of approximately 30%, with 119 cases occurring since the beginning of the year—representing an annual rate of more than 800 in his is accordance to data by the Israeli Army Central Command.
This is nothing new, and has nothing to do with the this extreme right-wing government. Coordination and joint action have been a hallmark of the relationship between the army and the settlers before. Writing in Haaretz, Yoana Gonen as saying, ‘In legal dramas, the accused are always brought to trial, the testimony and evidence are thoroughly examined, and after a little opposition, justice is served.’ If you hope that this is also how the authorities will treat the settlers accused of killing Qusai Ma’tan, 19, from the Burqa village, for example, you’d better not hold your breath. Past experience teaches us that they will apparently never be brought to trial. Certainly, no justice will be served in a distorted system in which Israelis and Palestinians receive different treatment under the law.
The settler violence in the West Bank, under the full cover of the Israeli military, is not a new phenomenon. Over the past ten years, more than 5,350 violent incidents have been recorded in the West Bank by settlers targeting Palestinians and their property in various ways. These violations have ranged from stone-throwing at Palestinians, their homes, and cars to setting fire to homes, businesses, farms, and other private property. Palestinians are also subjected to other violations, including settlers cutting down olive trees, damaging water infrastructure, and stealing, killing, and expelling livestock using various means, such as, drones.
Incidents of firearm violence by settlers have also increased, with many of these incidents involving firearms being carried out. Following Oct. 7, 2023, the Israeli military mobilized the so-called Territorial Defense Battalions (TDB) in the West Bank on a massive scale, accelerating the recruitment of more than 5,500 reservist settlers. However, as the TDB rank grew, comprising primarily right-wing extremist settlers, there was a marked increase in violence and harassment against Palestinians, particularly in the first few months after Oct. 7. The sharp rise in settler violence became horrific following Oct. 7, 2023. Encouraged by the far-right Israeli government, settlers see the ongoing war in Gaza as an opportunity to advance their agenda of forcing Palestinians to leave their villages.
This natural development after the occupation army recruited the terrorist Hilltop Youth in recent years into military and paramilitary formations, such as, the Desert Border Unit i.e. ‘Sefer Hamidbar in Hebrew’. Its leadership is aware that these individuals have criminal records. Furthermore, the army battalions operating in the West Bank are crammed with thousands of officers and soldiers who are originally settlers and adhere to the religious Zionist movement.
They live in the settlements´-or-have relatives there. Religious soldiers and officers with settler roots view Palestinians through an extreme interpretation of the biblical narrative. Secular soldiers and officers, who do not have -dir-ect ties to the settlers, have become afraid to impose orders that harm the settlements because the settler-dominated public discourse in Israel could demonize them and remove them from the national fold,´-or-at the very least, stigmatize them and harm their Zionism.
On an executive context, the Higher Council for Planning and Building in the Civil Administration is currently discussing approval of construction projects for 1,211 housing units. Among these are 2 major projects in the Ma ale Amos settlement on lands from the Kisan village in the Bethlehem Governorate ‘a total of 561 housing units to expand the settlement. Other settlements included in the expansion plan are Etz Efraim on lands from the Mas ha village in the Salfeet Governorate,‘252 housing units, Mitzpe Shalem on lands from Ta amra in the Bethlehem Governorate, ‘168 housing units, and Beitar Illit, south of Jerusalem, ‘230 housing units.’
Since early Dec. 2024, the Higher Planning and Building Council has been holding weekly meetings to advance housing projects in the settlements and accelerate the process of building new settlement units, in line with the changes made by the Netanyahu-Smotrich Government in June 2023, which abolished the requirement for the Army Minister s approval for each stage of developing settlement plans. Previously, every construction plan in the settlements required prior approval from the Army Minister.
In previous years, he-limit-ed the pace of developing settlement plans to about 4 times per year, with thousands of housing units approved in a single council session. In recent months, we have witnessed a fundamental change, with the Higher Planning Council meeting weekly and approving hundreds of housing units at each meeting. Thus, the government seeks to normalize planning in the settlements and reduce public and international attention and criticism.
Meanwhile, the occupation authorities are examining plans to expand settlement construction in the heart of Sheikh Jarrah and Um Lisson in East Jerusalem. The Ir Amim Israeli organization that monitors settlement construction in East Jerusalem, stated that the Jerusalem Municipality has officially joined the planning process as a precursor to a settlement construction plan in East Jerusalem. The organization confirmed that the local planning and building committee in the Moshe Leon Municipality recently joined the controversial discussions surrounding the expansion of Jewish construction in the heart of Palestinian neighborhoods – in both Sheikh Jarrah and Um Lisson area. The plan in Sheikh Jarrah includes the construction of a Jewish synagogue called ‘Or Shemesh’ on private land within a Palestinian neighborhood after the local committee decided to confiscate 40% of the land for public use.
At the same time, the committee also decided to officially include the Jerusalem Municipality as a precursor to the plan, giving it significant institutional support. The organization added, ‘The municipality s most blatant interference is evident in the Um Lisson plan, which aims to build 450 Jewish housing units within an existing Palestinian neighborhood. The only entrance to the neighborhood is narrow and doesn’t allow for construction, and because the settlers don’t own the land, they are unable to widen the road themselves. SO, the Jerusalem Municipality intervenes and joins the plan to overcome this obstacle, working to widen the road, effectively facilitating the establishment of a Jewish settlement within Palestinian neighborhoods.
This is the first time that the Jerusalem Municipality has played the role of the party proposing a settlement construction plan in the heart of a Palestinian neighborhood, in a purely political move. The Jerusalem Municipality could have decided not to widen the road to serve a Jewish settlement project within a Palestinian neighborhood – but it chose the opposite,’ adding, ‘In doing so, the municipality makes its intentions clear – not only by imposing a reality of planning discrimination against Palestinians, but also by exploiting its authority as a local authority to circumvent legal and planning restrictions, with the aim of facilitating the establishment of Jewish settlements in Palestinian areas.’
At international level, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, highlighted in his latest report Israel’s increase in its illegal settlements in the occupied territories, he noted that Israel has taken steps to build more than 20,000 housing units in occupied East Jerusalem alone, demolished 214 Palestinian properties and facilities in the city, and has also taken other steps to build 10,300 housing units inside Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
He also noted that unlicensed roads have been built around settlements by the Israeli army and settlers to seize more Palestinian land, forcibly displacing more than 4,527 people from their lands, adding that Israel’s transfer of part of its civilian population to the occupied territories amounts to a war crime, and called on Israel to abide by the ICJ’s decision to cease all settlement activities and provide reparations for damages resulting from decades of illegal settlement.
List of Israeli Assaults over the Last Week Documented by the National Bureau:
Jerusalem:
• Storming the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque by settlers, carried out provocative tours there, and performed Talmudic rituals on the occasion of the Hebrew holiday of Purim.
• Assaulting citizens in the Wadi Hilweh Neighborhood in the Silwan town. Invading the Issawiyah town and distributed demolition orders, summonses to visit the municipality, and orders to stop construction work under the pretext of building without a permit. In the Aljeeb village, demolished retaining walls and bulldozed lands in the village.
Hebron:
• Storming Tell Ma in archaeological site in groups and performed Talmudic rituals inside it, released their livestock onto agricultural crops in the area and destroyed them.
• Attacking shepherds and forced them at gunpoint to leave their lands in Masafer Yatta. Others, armed, stormed Khirbet al-Tuba, causing panic among children and women. A shepherd in the area, Awad, was injured with bruises and fractures, and was taken to the hospital. Moreover, in Wadi al-Husayn, east of Hebron, settlers attacked citizens homes and threw stones and empty bottles at them.
• Carrying out a provocative tour in Jaber Neighborhood in Hebron and assaulted the elderly man, Abdul Aziz al-Shantir, 64, after storming his shop, near the Ibrahimi Mosque.
• Grazing their livestock on citizens agricultural crops and olive trees in several villages and ruins in Masafer Yatta, vandalizing more than 120 olive trees, settlers also released their livestock on agricultural crops and fruit trees in Khirbet al-Halawa area, while others stormed the village of al-Mafqara and vandalized agricultural crops. Furthermore, they released their sheep in the vicinity of citizens homes and vandalized irrigated seedlings, fruit trees, and areas of agricultural crops in the Fatah Sidra area.
Ramallah:
• Pavingnew roads in the Um Safa village, northwest of Ramallah, in the eastern part of the village, with the aim of seizing them.
Nablus:
• Burning homes, two vehicles, and property, terrorizing residents in a large-scale attack on Khirbet al-Marajim, near the Duma village, south of Nablus. They launched a series of attacks against residents and their property, during which they stormed the homes of the village after smashing their doors and windows and destroying their contents. They then set fire to 3 homes, completely burning two vehicles, and stealing a horse and livestock.
Salfeet:
• Bulldozing scores of dunams between the city of Salfeet and the Bruqin town to the west, with the aim of paving a new settlement road leading to the ‘Al-Ras’ pastoral settlement outpost in the Wadi Al-Matwi area, west of Salfeet, were about 40 old olive trees were uprooted, and large areas of land were bulldozed.
• Assaulting Palestinian farmers in the Aqaba area north of the Deiristiya town. Settlers also set fire to the tents of the Hamad Al-Azazmeh community in the Al-Matwi area, which led to the burning of 5other tents designated for livestock.
• Fixing electricity lines and rehabilitating the road leading to the new settlement outpost near the Farkha village. Moreover, they bulldozed large areas of Palestinian land in the Wadi Al-Matwi area, to connect the Ariel settlement with a new settlement outpost in the area.
Jenin:
• Notifying the seizure of about 120 dunums of land in the Jalboun town, north of Jenin. The mayor said that these lands belongs to the town’s residents and have been planted with olive trees for more than 50 years. Besides, seizing the home of citizen Ghaleb Abu al-Rab and his family, forced him to leave and turned his house into a military barrack for 3 days, and also seized the home of his son, Moh’d Abu al-Rab, and positioned there.
Jordan Valley:
• Storming the Auja Spring and held a provocative party, prevented citizens from entering the area amid acts of violence and provocation in the areas surrounding the spring, they established a new settlement outpost and brought construction materials to build the outpost near the spring, which supplies water to the neighboring Bedouin communities.
• Leveling lands in the Auja Waterfall area, targeted Palestinian agricultural lands, while settlers paved the road leading to Ein al-Sakut, hundreds of meters long, as part of the policy of seizing the spring.

* ‘A Mole’ in a (Government) is an agent of an organization, sent to infiltrate a specific intelligence agency through getting a job. The Mole is a metaphor for a term popularized by the famous British author John le Carré, who is considered one of the most famous spy writers in the world, died in 2020.

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