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Louis Theroux travels to the West Bank to meet some of the large and growing community of religious-nationalist Israeli settlers based there. Since the Hamas-led attack on October 7th, 2023, when around 1,200 Israelis were killed, the settlers have been emboldened to expand their areas of control. Louis travels throughout the territory to understand the consequences of their activity.
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00:00:02Do you want to show where we are right now?
00:00:04Because I think we're quite deep inside what are called the Palestinian territories.
00:00:08What you call the Palestinian territories, I call it the heart of Judea.
00:00:12If you say the Palestinian territories, you're essentially already saying that this right here,
00:00:18right here, is going to be a jihadist Palestinian state right in the heart of Israel.
00:00:25Not only in the heart of Israel, we're talking about like the biblical...
00:00:28But why jihadist?
00:00:28Why do you say jihadist?
00:00:30Why couldn't it just be a Palestinian state?
00:00:32Okay, to understand the Arab way of thinking, they understand there's a war.
00:00:37They win the war if they get territory.
00:00:40They lose the war if they lose territory.
00:00:43You could flip that and say, well, that's what, in a sense, you're doing.
00:00:46That's what I aspire to do.
00:00:49That's what I aspire to do.
00:00:55Beyond the eastern edge of Israel is the Palestinian territory of the West Bank.
00:01:04It was occupied in war by Israel in 1967.
00:01:09Since then, hundreds of thousands of Jewish settlers have moved here illegally under international law.
00:01:16Among them, the group of religious nationalists who see it as their divine right to build a greater Israel
00:01:24and drive out the Palestinians who've been here for generations.
00:01:33I made a film about them in 2011.
00:01:36But now, since the attack of October 7th, I'd heard that they were accelerating the settlement process.
00:01:45While being protected by the Israeli military.
00:01:50And come to try to understand their mindset and to see the consequences of their ultra-nationalist vision up close.
00:02:00They don't see us as equal human beings who deserve the same rights they do.
00:02:21I was close to Israel's southern border.
00:02:24At a viewpoint, tourists were surveying the ruins of Gaza.
00:02:30The Palestinian death toll at this point was more than 43,000 and rising.
00:02:36In a war that had commenced a year earlier, after Hamas gunmen attacked Israeli communities,
00:02:42killing more than 1,000 and taking hundreds more hostage.
00:02:59Now, with bombs falling nearby, settlers from across the West Bank were holding a jamboree
00:03:05to promote the idea of putting new Jewish outposts in Gaza.
00:03:11With workshops offering practical advice, while a vanguard made their case in front of the world's media.
00:03:18How are you doing, Louis?
00:03:20Nice to meet you, Orvit.
00:03:20What's your name, Orvit? And why are you here today?
00:03:23To show support, and that I believe that Gaza is ours and that we need to be living there.
00:03:28To those Palestinians who'd say, well, we'd like to live in a Palestinian state, what do you say?
00:03:33The Bible says this place was given to the Jews. This place is ours.
00:03:38Ours meaning?
00:03:39It's a Jewish name.
00:03:44What's your name?
00:03:45Aaron.
00:03:45Aaron, nice to meet you.
00:03:46Louis, where are you from?
00:03:48I'm from Hebron.
00:03:49And before that?
00:03:50Until I was nine years old, lived in New York, and then my parents made ariyah to Israel.
00:03:55We're here to call our government to go and settle Gaza.
00:03:59We're here because we have a right to be here.
00:04:01Our right to be in this land is the Torah, is the godly promise.
00:04:04Where we don't settle, terror grows.
00:04:11Among the attendees were many senior political figures, including Israel's Minister of National Security.
00:04:20The God of Israel is our nation.
00:04:24We're here! We're here! We're here! We're here!
00:04:29The house for all the Jews of the Torah, to stay, to stay, to stay, to stay, to stay, to
00:04:35stand, and to protect the people of Israel.
00:04:39In his youth, Itamar Ben-Gavir had been convicted of incitement of racism.
00:04:45He is himself a settler, but in a sign of the changing times, he now sits in the government of
00:04:51Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
00:04:56Presiding over the event was the godmother of the settler movement, Daniela Weiss.
00:05:02Daniela, this is your event, isn't it? Tell me about what this is.
00:05:06No, no, no, not now. Not now. Not now.
00:05:08Ten words.
00:05:10No, no, no. Not now. Not now. Not now.
00:05:12We, the settlement movement, organized this event in order to enhance the practical idea of establishing Jewish settlements in the
00:05:31entire Gaza Strip.
00:05:35We very much encourage and enable the population in Gaza to go to other countries.
00:05:44You will witness how Jews go to Gaza and Arabs disappear from Gaza.
00:05:52They lost the right to stay in this holy place. Please go.
00:05:57Thank you very much.
00:05:59That's a bell.
00:06:07From up on a nearby hill, there came the sound of protesting.
00:06:15An Israeli group demonstrating for a ceasefire and the return of hostages taken by Hamas.
00:06:21What are you doing here?
00:06:22I think the idea of resettling Gaza is absolutely ridiculous.
00:06:28The question is, what kind of country do we want to be?
00:06:31Do we want to be a colonizing country?
00:06:33Or do we want to be a country that at least offers peace and wants to live in peace with
00:06:39the Palestinians?
00:06:40That has to be what we strive for.
00:06:48I'd been hoping for a moment with Daniela, but then came a warning of a possible rocket attack, and the
00:06:53event was quickly evacuated.
00:07:12For Jewish settlers, Gaza is the latest frontier in a process that's been unfolding for decades across the West Bank.
00:07:21The West Bank, a region of not much more than 5,000 square kilometres, the West Bank is home to
00:07:27around 3 million Palestinians,
00:07:31most of them living in large cities with limited autonomy under the Palestinian Authority.
00:07:39The Israeli military occupied the area in the Six-Day War in 1967.
00:07:45Since then, hundreds of thousands of Israelis have moved in to form settlements,
00:07:51hoping to expand Jewish presence in the region or simply looking for cheap housing.
00:07:59Often they start out as a few tents or caravans pitched by ultra-ideological settlers on hilltops next to Palestinian
00:08:06towns.
00:08:08These are known as outposts.
00:08:12They are illegal under Israeli law, until they are authorised as settlements.
00:08:17But both settlements and outposts are illegal under international law.
00:08:22The army nevertheless protects them.
00:08:25Hello. How are you?
00:08:27Everything's great. Where are you from?
00:08:29London, England.
00:08:30Oh, nice.
00:08:31Where are you from?
00:08:32Russia.
00:08:33Russia!
00:08:35Most settlements tend to be suspicious of media.
00:08:39But I'd managed to get an appointment at one called Eviatar.
00:08:43It had started out as an outpost on the edge of the Palestinian town of Beitar.
00:08:49It was only recognised as a settlement by the Israeli state a few months earlier.
00:08:54Hi there, good morning.
00:08:55Good morning, how are you?
00:08:56I'm fine, how are you doing?
00:08:57You must be Malkiel.
00:08:58Yes, I am.
00:08:59I'm Louis, how do you do?
00:09:00I'm fine, thank you.
00:09:01Thank you for having us.
00:09:01Thank you for coming.
00:09:03One of its founders is horse wrangler Malkiel Bahai.
00:09:09All right, so let me show you a bit about Eviatar.
00:09:14I'm just going to have to ask you not to take any films of the army base.
00:09:18That's where they're sitting.
00:09:19So there's an army base there?
00:09:21This is an army base.
00:09:22That's where the dormitories are.
00:09:24And this is a house of people living here.
00:09:26The army base is for your security?
00:09:28For all the region's security.
00:09:31The story about Eviatar, this was a hilltop.
00:09:35It started from day one living in tents.
00:09:38And by the end of the month, we were 50 families living here in these houses.
00:09:43All of these houses were built back then.
00:09:45Coming from where?
00:09:46All over the country.
00:09:47Shall we go inside?
00:09:49All right.
00:09:51It is a little untidy.
00:09:53But this is where you're living at the moment?
00:09:55Yes.
00:09:56This is our humble home.
00:09:59This is our living room.
00:10:01Our kitchen.
00:10:06How many children do you have?
00:10:08Eight.
00:10:08Four boys and four girls.
00:10:10Wow.
00:10:10Behind here, we have another kid's room.
00:10:13This is a girl's bedroom.
00:10:15Two older girls, 13 and 11, they sleep here.
00:10:19And over there, this is the laundry, bathroom and the shower.
00:10:25So where do you stay, mum and dad?
00:10:27This is me and my wife.
00:10:29You and your wife are in there.
00:10:30If it rains, why?
00:10:32If it does rain, so we'll go into the small caravan.
00:10:36Hopefully, we'll finish building the house before winter is here.
00:10:40Do you enjoy being out on the frontier,
00:10:43where it's a bit more rough and ready, where there's more uncertainty?
00:10:47Our mission is to settle Israel.
00:10:50New settlements all over the country.
00:10:55So most of the world sees this as the West Bank,
00:10:58as occupied territory.
00:11:00It's under a military occupation, correct?
00:11:03Like it's not part of the state of Israel,
00:11:05as most nations recognise it.
00:11:07The ancient name of this area is called Judea.
00:11:12The meaning of Judea is it's belonged to the Jews.
00:11:16So you can't take all the history, put it in the garbage and say,
00:11:21OK, it's not belonged to the Jews.
00:11:24The history said it's belonged to Israel.
00:11:35With a selective reading of history that ignores the Palestinians
00:11:39who've lived in the land for generations,
00:11:41the aim for settlements like Eviatar is to become full-fledged towns,
00:11:46guarded round the clock by soldiers,
00:11:49walled off from the millions around them.
00:11:55The godmother of the settler project, going back more than 50 years,
00:11:59is the woman I'd seen at the Gaza border event, Daniela Weiss.
00:12:03I want to see big cities here, like a city of two million people.
00:12:10So it's not a settlement.
00:12:11Settlement is caravans, it's trailers, it's a home here and a home there.
00:12:15This is not what my dream is about.
00:12:19The trailers in that video of Daniela
00:12:22have now grown into the settlement of Kedumim, where she still lives.
00:12:32Hi.
00:12:33What's up in Selim?
00:12:36Supported by some in the Israeli government,
00:12:38Daniela is viewed by others in power as a dangerous extremist.
00:12:43She'd agreed to talk to me at home.
00:12:48Nice to see you.
00:12:50So we've got pictures of you as a young woman.
00:12:53Is the one of you getting married, is that the oldest one?
00:12:57This is when we got together.
00:13:00I was then 15 or something.
00:13:03Your parents were from?
00:13:04My mother was born in Warsaw.
00:13:09My parents came here and invested fortunes,
00:13:13believing that someday there will be a Jewish state.
00:13:18With their vision and their faith,
00:13:22I continue to expand Israel
00:13:25and to be as close as possible to the promised land.
00:13:33This is your map.
00:13:35So this is what most of the world knows as the West Bank,
00:13:37which you call Judea and Samaria.
00:13:40This is what you call occupied West Bank.
00:13:43And what the Palestinians would like to see
00:13:45as a future state of their own.
00:13:48Oh, they are not satisfied with this,
00:13:50but a complicated issue.
00:13:53These little pink wedges, what do they represent?
00:13:57The Jewish communities
00:13:58that were established since 1967.
00:14:05I'm curious to know roughly
00:14:07how many settlements and outposts
00:14:10you've been, let's say,
00:14:11in some way involved in the establishment.
00:14:14Almost everyone.
00:14:15For real?
00:14:16It's 50 years.
00:14:17You know what it means, 50 years,
00:14:19that I do what I do today?
00:14:21Because it's territory that was won in the 1967 war,
00:14:24that under the Geneva Convention,
00:14:26transferring a civilian population
00:14:28into a conquered terrain,
00:14:30that that's considered a war crime.
00:14:32What I do here is a war crime.
00:14:35According to the UN.
00:14:37And you're cooperating with the person
00:14:40who committed a war crime?
00:14:42Well, I'm interviewing you.
00:14:47It's a light felony.
00:14:50I've read a couple of things suggesting
00:14:52that you were viewed as an extremist
00:14:54and possibly sympathising with Jewish or Israeli terror.
00:14:58The confrontation is not over terror.
00:15:02The confrontation is just on whether yes or no.
00:15:09We stay here.
00:15:11There's a quote.
00:15:12So alarming is the situation.
00:15:13It's talking about the situation of settlers
00:15:15and what they describe as settler extremism and violence.
00:15:19Last week, Ronan Barr,
00:15:20the head of Israel's security service,
00:15:22wrote to Netanyahu, the prime minister,
00:15:24and the defence minister warning
00:15:25that what he called Jewish terror
00:15:27by violent settlers
00:15:28was doing indescribable damage to Israel.
00:15:32The reason Ronan Barr says that I'm extremist
00:15:36has nothing to do with terror.
00:15:39Whatever I represent
00:15:40threatens his peaceful, secular life.
00:15:46I have nothing to do with terror.
00:15:48He knows I have nothing to do with terror.
00:15:50And he insists on saying it.
00:15:54It's a lie.
00:15:55And he knows that it's a lie.
00:15:58Does that really explain it?
00:15:59He doesn't like me.
00:16:00Mm-hmm.
00:16:01Because I have a lot of influence,
00:16:03much more than he is.
00:16:04Influence over who?
00:16:05The young generation that is growing in Israel.
00:16:09And government too.
00:16:10And government what?
00:16:11Do you have influence over government?
00:16:13No question.
00:16:14Who did all this?
00:16:16Can you call Netanyahu?
00:16:21What do you mean?
00:16:22Like this?
00:16:23No, I call his aid.
00:16:26So the idea is to force the government
00:16:29by putting people,
00:16:31starts with small settlements,
00:16:33then they get bigger,
00:16:34then they get recognised by the state of Israel,
00:16:36and basically creating a new demographic reality.
00:16:39We do not force a government.
00:16:41We do for governments
00:16:43what they cannot do for themselves.
00:16:48Even if you take Netanyahu now,
00:16:51he is very happy with what we do here
00:16:53and also about our plans
00:16:55to build Jewish communities in Gaza.
00:16:59He is happy about it.
00:17:00But he cannot say it.
00:17:02He says the opposite.
00:17:04It's not realistic.
00:17:07Good!
00:17:08We will make it realistic!
00:17:10It's not forcing the government.
00:17:13It's helping the government.
00:17:16It's step number one in politics.
00:17:20You don't force the government.
00:17:21You give the government
00:17:22the courage,
00:17:24the ability,
00:17:25the public support,
00:17:26the political support.
00:17:29I think you understand
00:17:30what I said,
00:17:32even if you disagree.
00:17:40There was something unsettling
00:17:42about hearing Daniela's ethno-nationalist vision
00:17:45being laid out so plainly,
00:17:47especially when I considered
00:17:48the support she claimed to have
00:17:50from some in power.
00:17:56With their backing,
00:17:57the settlement project has accelerated,
00:17:59with many of those going to live
00:18:01in West Bank settlements
00:18:02coming from other countries.
00:18:05Anyone from anywhere in the world
00:18:07with Jewish heritage,
00:18:08since they qualify for Israeli citizenship,
00:18:11can live in a settlement.
00:18:14Have you ever been to Judea?
00:18:16Well, consider this an invitation,
00:18:18because I could try to describe it
00:18:20to you in words,
00:18:21but it'd just be impossible.
00:18:25Ari Abramovitz was born
00:18:26and raised in Texas.
00:18:28He now helps run Arugot Farm,
00:18:31a small retreat hosting birthdays,
00:18:34weddings and corporate events,
00:18:36often catering to tourists.
00:18:41The farm was established
00:18:42as an outpost in 2014,
00:18:44illegally,
00:18:45according to international law,
00:18:47on land deep inside
00:18:49the occupied West Bank.
00:18:52Hi.
00:18:53We're going to Arugot Farm.
00:19:03Are you Ari?
00:19:04I am.
00:19:05There you are.
00:19:06How are you doing?
00:19:07Good to meet you.
00:19:07Welcome, welcome.
00:19:08Nice to meet you.
00:19:09Louis.
00:19:10Louis.
00:19:11Louis.
00:19:11Yes.
00:19:12Louis.
00:19:12Louis.
00:19:12Louis.
00:19:13Yes.
00:19:14Or Louis.
00:19:14I don't mind too much.
00:19:15Welcome to Judea.
00:19:16What are you doing?
00:19:16You've come armed.
00:19:18I did.
00:19:19But we're so friendly.
00:19:19I know how it looks.
00:19:20I know.
00:19:21I know it's not true.
00:19:31So this is our synagogue.
00:19:34And I remember when I first came here,
00:19:36I wanted to build my house here.
00:19:38And then I learned that according to Jewish law,
00:19:40you build the synagogue in the highest place,
00:19:42which makes sense.
00:19:44Well, my home is going to be lording over the synagogue.
00:19:46That wouldn't be right.
00:19:48These are the Torah scrolls.
00:19:53Is it weird to have your guns on in here?
00:19:56No, my gun is here to protect the nation of Israel from those that seek to harm us.
00:20:06And during a service, would you typically wear them?
00:20:10Yes.
00:20:11Is it that dangerous?
00:20:13It is until it's not.
00:20:16Thank God, never had any issues of infiltrations here.
00:20:21And I think it's because they know that we're ready for it.
00:20:26How old were you when you came to Israel?
00:20:28I think I was 16.
00:20:29When you moved here.
00:20:30And I came here after high school to study Torah.
00:20:33It was supposed to be a few months.
00:20:35It's called the gap year program.
00:20:36When you breathe the air, when you taste that,
00:20:39when you feel mission and passion in life,
00:20:44you can't go back.
00:20:52This is where I choose to come and pray with the creator of heaven and earth.
00:20:57I think this is the most beautiful place in the world, right here.
00:21:01Where's the nearest Palestinian town?
00:21:03I'm so uncomfortable using the word Palestinian
00:21:06because I don't think that it exists.
00:21:09You don't think they really exist?
00:21:11I don't think that they exist as a real nation
00:21:14with a real claim to this land.
00:21:17What are they then?
00:21:18They are, they're Arabs.
00:21:20with a connection to this land?
00:21:21Yes, they have a connection to it.
00:21:23It's nowhere near the depth.
00:21:27And I mean, we were in this land planting vineyards
00:21:30before Mohammed was in the third grade.
00:21:33Is that a settlement there?
00:21:34That is a Jewish settlement called Pnei Kedem.
00:21:38Pnei Kedem.
00:21:39Which means facing the east, face to the east.
00:21:42Would that be considered legal under Israeli law?
00:21:45I don't know.
00:21:46You don't really care.
00:21:47I don't, I don't care at all.
00:21:49At all.
00:21:50I don't care at all.
00:21:51I mean...
00:21:52Why don't you care?
00:21:53This land here in the heart of Judea,
00:21:55there's some things that transcend the whims of legislation.
00:22:02And this is one of those things.
00:22:12For millions of Palestinians up and down the West Bank, the presence of settlers makes life precarious.
00:22:21They live under Israeli military law, restricted from most Israeli roads, subject to frequent run-ins with the authorities and
00:22:29detention without trial.
00:22:31Israel, in a legal system that is opaque and arbitrary.
00:22:36Israel says the measures are necessary for security.
00:22:43I was in the south Hebron hills during the olive harvest, a time when tensions run high, with Palestinians prevented
00:22:50from getting to trees they say they've harvested for years.
00:22:55How are you doing?
00:22:56How are you doing?
00:22:57I'm very good.
00:22:58I was curious to see the interactions for myself.
00:23:02I'd heard from an Israeli activist group, they were trying to help a farmer named Ishaq Jabarin.
00:23:11Louis, what's happening here today?
00:23:41I was curious to see the university of Israel.
00:23:49The army arrived.
00:23:51A nearby settlement had allegedly called them to report the olive-picking.
00:23:55I'm sorry to find the land.
00:23:58No land.
00:23:59I'm sorry to find the land.
00:23:59No land.
00:23:59I'm sorry to find the land here in the sky.
00:24:04They take the land for five to ten seconds and...
00:24:06I'm sorry.
00:24:07I'm sorry to find the land.
00:24:17One of those on the scene was a long-time Israeli activist, mathematician, Kobi Smeets.
00:24:30Kobi, do you know what they're doing right now?
00:24:32The army has said, you've got to leave in five minutes, and now the landowner has to
00:24:37make a choice if to try to insist on staying here and taking a risk.
00:24:47They're liable to do anything.
00:24:48They could arrest the Palestinians, they can arrest us, who knows what they might do.
00:24:53Have you been arrested before?
00:24:55Do you think he would have been arrested?
00:24:5840% of all Palestinian men have been arrested, so probably.
00:25:03Where are you from?
00:25:05British television.
00:25:09Passport.
00:25:13Can I ask why you're taking my passport?
00:25:16I need to check.
00:25:17Check what?
00:25:18Check what?
00:25:20Nothing.
00:25:20They don't check nothing.
00:25:21They just want to scare us.
00:25:30If he kept picking, he would have been arrested?
00:25:33No, it's not to arrest.
00:25:34To do what?
00:25:35It's just to evacuate the area.
00:25:37Meaning what, though, if he says, I'm not leaving?
00:25:41I'm grateful we didn't get to that part.
00:25:44That's what I'm saying.
00:25:44Because what would happen?
00:25:48I actually don't.
00:25:50As a soldier, you would have to, what, detain him?
00:25:55That's...
00:25:55No.
00:25:56I rather not speaking it.
00:26:11Alongside their interactions with the army, Palestinians throughout the West Bank also suffer attacks by settlers.
00:26:21These videos come from the South Hebron Hills, where I'd seen the olive picking.
00:26:27In the town of Tuwani, a settler was caught on camera shooting and severely injuring a Palestinian man.
00:26:38The shooter had his gun license revoked, but he was never arrested.
00:26:43I'd heard of other similar incidents.
00:26:51In the same town of Tuwani, I'd made contact with a 20-year-old Palestinian student and local activist named
00:26:57Mohamed Huraini.
00:27:01He'd offered to take me to the top of the hill to meet his neighbour, who lives at a spot
00:27:05closest to a settlement.
00:27:10Louis, nice to meet you.
00:27:16Thank you for having us.
00:27:19Mossab Roubaix's house still bears the scars of what he says were settler attacks.
00:27:24You can see, like, from the window, the bullets.
00:27:27So there's bullets that have come through here?
00:27:29Yeah.
00:27:31From this window and that window.
00:27:40This is the settlement.
00:27:42This and this one.
00:27:44Where that bright light is?
00:27:45Yeah.
00:27:46So what is that?
00:27:47Is that an outpost or what is that?
00:27:49Is there anyone in there?
00:27:51Hang on, something's happening.
00:27:53What is it?
00:27:56What is it?
00:27:56It's a soldier.
00:27:57Are they coming in?
00:28:08They are screaming.
00:28:10They are screaming to us.
00:28:12I don't know.
00:28:13There is a little guns now.
00:28:17It's a laser on the rifles.
00:28:19I don't know.
00:28:21Pick your shirts.
00:28:24It's time for us every day.
00:28:28What do we do, just stay in here?
00:28:29Yeah, we're on the side.
00:28:35Matan, what do you think?
00:28:36Not safe at the moment.
00:28:38There's obviously multiple guns pointing at us.
00:28:41Let's wait.
00:28:43What can we do?
00:28:44Can we call the police?
00:28:46Which police?
00:28:47I mean, there are one Rajiv.
00:28:56This doesn't worry you?
00:28:58No, because, I mean, we're raised in this situation,
00:29:00so it became a normal reality for us.
00:29:03When you're a kid, you just see this army invading your home
00:29:06in the day, in the night.
00:29:07You grow up on this injustice reality
00:29:11that it became normal for you as a human,
00:29:13but it's not normal for anybody, and no-one should accept it.
00:29:22After more than an hour, the soldiers appeared to lose interest
00:29:25and the crew and I slipped away.
00:29:38The violence committed by some settlers is often justified by them
00:29:42as a response to violence they experience from Palestinians,
00:29:46which is much less frequent.
00:29:49Nevertheless, it's hard to disentangle it from an ideology
00:29:52of the superiority of one group and their rights over another,
00:29:56promoted by leaders like Daniela Weiss.
00:30:01Hiya, how are you?
00:30:03I'm coming.
00:30:05Hoping for more insight into her and her work, I was back.
00:30:09I have a meeting.
00:30:11So, do have a seat.
00:30:20So, we'll just wait.
00:30:26Great.
00:30:31OK, from now on, follow me if you want to know.
00:30:35Are we leaving?
00:30:38So, we're going to meet you there?
00:30:40All right.
00:30:43I was joining Daniela and some friends of hers
00:30:46in a convoy heading towards Gaza.
00:30:49Mission unclear.
00:30:58Two hours later, we were one kilometre from the Gaza border
00:31:01in the Israeli town of Sderot,
00:31:05arriving at a yeshiva, a religious school,
00:31:08where Daniela took part in an assembly
00:31:11alongside two prominent rabbis.
00:31:16What's happening next, Daniela?
00:31:19Should we follow you?
00:31:21We'll follow her.
00:31:32Our next stop was a memorial for the victims of October 7th.
00:31:37Sderot had seen heavy fighting during the Hamas attacks
00:31:40and suffered many losses.
00:31:45For some passers-by,
00:31:47Daniela held a degree of celebrity status.
00:31:55Then, the settler convoy arrived
00:31:57at what seemed to be its destination,
00:32:03a viewpoint overlooking the war zone.
00:32:09Daniela had told me she'd signed up 800 families
00:32:12who were ready to move into Gaza.
00:32:14One of her team explained how it would work.
00:32:17Let's look at it here.
00:32:18You can see what it's like.
00:32:20What's the name?
00:32:21Yes, this is the background.
00:32:23You can see what it's like.
00:32:23Yes, we're going to see what it's like.
00:32:24We're going to see what it's like.
00:32:26We're going to see what it's like.
00:32:36Here we are.
00:32:36One of them is the area that's like a place here.
00:32:39It's a place of my life.
00:32:42The idea seemed to be to get spiritual buy-in
00:32:44from the two rabbis.
00:32:46One of them was next to speak,
00:32:49Rabbi Dov Liur.
00:32:51Thank you very much, my dear, I, according to what I understand in our lives, if these people do not
00:32:58have peace, there is no peace, and there will not be peace.
00:33:01Not that I do not want peace, but I also want peace.
00:33:05The land is only in Amsterdam, and all the Gaza and all the Lebanon, all of them, they need to
00:33:10take off, to take off the land from the waves.
00:33:16If you have peace, peace, and if you have peace, you will not be peace, and you will not be
00:33:21peace.
00:33:22Even if you have peace, you will not be peace, it will be less peace, as well as to take
00:33:25off the fire, all the time we need to take off.
00:33:30I have no idea, I have no idea, for years I have no idea, but they have a peace.
00:33:40It's
00:34:13As the day ended, we were following Daniela's car,
00:34:17driving on what seemed to be army-controlled land,
00:34:21approaching ever closer to the Gaza border.
00:34:25You can see the destroyed houses.
00:34:28It had previously been reported that Daniela had been illegally escorted
00:34:32into Gaza by soldiers who supported her to recce locations for settlement.
00:34:42Suddenly, her vehicle broke away.
00:34:56On this occasion, she was intercepted.
00:35:01So basically, she had a military escort, and then she just peeled away
00:35:05and made a sprint for the border.
00:35:07Of Gaza?
00:35:08Yeah.
00:35:11She's just tried to run away from the army, hasn't she?
00:35:22Did you try and make a dash for the Gaza border?
00:35:25What was happening down there?
00:35:29I enjoyed it so much.
00:35:31Our two jeeps drew too much attention.
00:35:36But what's the idea?
00:35:37Why do you want to go down to the Gaza?
00:35:38Actually, you want to go into Gaza?
00:35:40No.
00:35:41Why do you want to go down to the Gaza border?
00:35:43Why do you want to go down to the Gaza border?
00:35:44What I wanted to do, I wanted to show the rabbis that Gaza is not something beyond reach.
00:35:56Would you say October 7th made people more receptive to your message and to your point of view?
00:36:02No doubt.
00:36:04No doubt.
00:36:04The October 7th naturally made people more receptive to the idea of the great Israel.
00:36:14But the next step, Jewish settlements in Gaza, is a very difficult step that demands a lot of work.
00:36:23You have to influence the leftists, the government, the nations of the world, using the magic system, Zionism.
00:36:34You redeem the land, you establish communities, you bring Jewish families, you live Jewish life.
00:36:47And this will bring light instead of darkness.
00:36:52And this is how the state of Israel was established.
00:36:55And this is what we want to do in Gaza.
00:36:59This process of making the whole of the West Bank and Gaza Jewish, do you feel like it's moving more
00:37:07quickly?
00:37:08As far as Judea and Samaria is concerned, so we want to move from 1 million to 2 million.
00:37:16So this is the next step.
00:37:18This is my vision.
00:37:19It's so complicated.
00:37:34Daniela's vision has been made possible by the Israeli occupation.
00:37:39But it in turn has led to the creation of a vast military infrastructure which impacts every aspect of Palestinian
00:37:46life.
00:37:48Nowhere is it more evident than in Hebron.
00:37:54Hebron is an ancient biblical city, home to some 200,000 Palestinians, a place holy to three major religions.
00:38:07Hi, how are you?
00:38:08What are you doing, guys?
00:38:10We're from British TV crew.
00:38:16In 1968, the year after it was occupied by Israel, a community of Jewish settlers moved in illegally.
00:38:23They now number around 700, existing in a cordon of military protection.
00:38:31I visited in 2010, when I'd spent time with a settler leader.
00:38:37Now, 14 years on, I was curious about life within the Palestinian community.
00:38:47Issa Amro, a Palestinian activist, was born here in the settler-occupied area.
00:39:01Issa Amro, a Palestinian activist, was born here in the settler-occupied area.
00:39:05No, they come for intimidation.
00:39:09How are you?
00:39:13They're not speaking, but I think what they would say is,
00:39:16well, we're here to provide security for the settlers who live here
00:39:21and want to live in peace and experience animosity from the Palestinians.
00:39:29So they want to live in peace and the expense of my basic human rights.
00:39:34I didn't choose to live in Hebron.
00:39:36I was born in Hebron. It's my land. It's my homeland.
00:39:38The settlers chose to come here.
00:39:40And if it's not safe for them,
00:39:42why do they continue building more and more settlements in my own city?
00:39:46By international law, the settlements are illegal.
00:39:49They don't see us as equal human beings who deserve the same rights they do.
00:39:57Lead the way.
00:39:58Yeah.
00:39:59For nearly 20 years, Issa has been an advocate
00:40:02for non-violent resistance against the occupation.
00:40:06He is one of around 30,000 Palestinians
00:40:08living inside the high-security area of Hebron,
00:40:11the so-called sterile zone.
00:40:14For them, just doing their shopping, going to work or going to school
00:40:18means passing through military checkpoints.
00:40:20Let's see how it works.
00:40:23Hi.
00:40:24Hi.
00:40:25How are you guys doing?
00:40:26Good. How are you?
00:40:27Fine.
00:40:27Everything okay?
00:40:29I need your passport, please.
00:40:30All of you, okay?
00:40:32Uh, sure.
00:40:33What for?
00:40:34Check.
00:40:36Why?
00:40:37Hi, Issa.
00:40:37How are you doing, mate?
00:40:38How are you doing?
00:40:38Hi.
00:40:39Why are you covering your faces?
00:40:41Because of the cold.
00:40:42No, no.
00:40:42It's not cold.
00:40:43Come on, guys.
00:40:44Don't hide.
00:40:45Only gangs hide their faces.
00:40:47You are a military.
00:40:48You should have your faces, you know, obvious to everybody.
00:40:51Do you know, you know Issa?
00:40:52He lives here.
00:40:53Yes.
00:40:53Yeah, he lives here.
00:40:54Father.
00:40:54He says it's making life very difficult to have this military presence here.
00:40:58What are you all doing here?
00:40:59What am I doing here?
00:41:00I'm making a documentary.
00:41:02Documentary?
00:41:02For British television.
00:41:03Of what?
00:41:04About settlers in the West Bank.
00:41:07Settlers in the West Bank?
00:41:08Yes.
00:41:08Okay, and what?
00:41:10What do you tell to the television about the settlements?
00:41:13It's not about what I'm telling them.
00:41:14It's about what I'm hearing from the people who I speak to.
00:41:16Where do you live?
00:41:18I don't want to tell you.
00:41:19Okay.
00:41:20I told you where I was staying.
00:41:22Say that again.
00:41:24What does that mean?
00:41:26It's a joy from the trip in Chevron here.
00:41:30Wish you all the best, guys.
00:41:32How is life here?
00:41:33Is it, it's like, you're very well armed.
00:41:36Do you, do you, is there a situation here that needs careful control?
00:41:40Of course.
00:41:41What is it?
00:41:42Tell me about it.
00:41:43We are not up to the long rocks.
00:41:47It's a lot of tools.
00:41:49What was he saying about Arabic?
00:41:52No, he wanted to see if you are an Arab.
00:41:54He asked you, do you speak Arabic.
00:41:57Hello, how you doing?
00:41:58What's up?
00:41:59Hey, how are you doing?
00:42:00I'm doing excellent.
00:42:01American?
00:42:02What do I look, Chinese?
00:42:03Yeah, from Brooklyn?
00:42:05You bet.
00:42:06Let me just pull over to the side.
00:42:07Okay
00:42:11Do you know him? No, he doesn't live here
00:42:15You okay?
00:42:17Do you need help? You're okay. No, are you stuck even at a rot?
00:42:23Hey, why are you filming me?
00:42:28It's all good. Don't worry. We can't even see your face look you're obscured. No one can even see who
00:42:32you are
00:42:33Don't worry. I don't know what to do with you. I have work to do
00:42:37Get on with your work. You're fine. You stay here
00:42:39In the check post and filming everything you can do this here. Okay. I come with me wait no you
00:42:45can't do that
00:42:46Come with me. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no don't touch me. You don't
00:42:49touch me. No violence
00:42:51Listen to me. Yeah, I'm listening
00:42:53Come come to me. No
00:42:55From the military, okay?
00:42:58IDF Israel Defense Forces
00:43:00I'm above the police here in the West Bank. Okay. I'm the highest
00:43:04Responsibility of a flow. Okay. We'll tell you like this. Okay, and as this man
00:43:11IDF I need to tell you not staying here. Okay, what's we will move along? That's fine
00:43:16Okay, leave leave this place leave this area. Okay, right now yalla father. Let's go. Okay. Yalla, let's go
00:43:27So who lives here? Palestinian families and
00:43:31And where are they? They are hiding behind their doors. What would stop these shops from being open?
00:43:36It's closed by military orders
00:43:42And marked as closed shops
00:43:44It's marked from this shop would be five families at least live and earn their living
00:43:50Look, this is something new
00:43:53This not to hire Arab workers in Israel
00:43:57Two faces faces of an Arab and a face of a tourist and this is how they stereotype us
00:44:08Middle finger
00:44:10Middle finger
00:44:10He gave you the middle finger? Yes. To you two. You think it was to me? To you. I think
00:44:14it was to you. To you. To both of us
00:44:17Because you deserve the middle finger if you report about Palestinians
00:44:35Wait, wait, wait
00:44:38ID please
00:44:39For what reason?
00:44:47Yes
00:44:48What's happening?
00:44:50That one?
00:44:50Yes
00:44:53But I know that I'm allowed to be here until here
00:44:55Say, you are not allowed to go there
00:44:58Why can't he be with us?
00:45:01Because there are limits for Palestinians
00:45:03So he can
00:45:05So he can
00:45:05If he lives here
00:45:06He can
00:45:07Reach
00:45:08Here now
00:45:10Give me your ID please
00:45:11How come Palestinians can't come down here?
00:45:15It's not worth playing it
00:45:16With camera we're not talking to you
00:45:20It seems ironic though
00:45:21That's the visitor's centre
00:45:23Right? For tourists and what not
00:45:24And he can't actually
00:45:27Visit in his own city
00:45:35You knew that was going to happen
00:45:37No, it's new that they asked me to come back to here
00:45:42They told me that I'm allowed only to here
00:45:44So they expanded the closed area for me
00:45:47What's it all about?
00:45:49Taking more and more land
00:45:51It's about fragmented life
00:45:53Restricted life for Palestinians
00:45:55No quality life
00:45:56You live with the basics
00:45:58Even with less than basics
00:46:00Of a family need
00:46:03To make you live
00:46:04And they are doing well
00:46:06The majority of the houses are empty
00:46:10Families are leaving
00:46:11You could flip it and say
00:46:13Well, if they really wanted to occupy
00:46:16The whole of Hebron
00:46:18Or at least this area
00:46:19They could literally deport Palestinians
00:46:22They do it slowly
00:46:24But now they are speeding up
00:46:26They want approval
00:46:28From their allies
00:46:29And their partners in the world
00:46:31Is it worth
00:46:33Going through to see
00:46:35The other side?
00:46:36Yes, I can show you
00:46:37To see what it looks like?
00:46:47This gives you a little flavour of what it was like in there before
00:46:50Yes, the market was much more busy inside
00:46:56It was our Oxford Street inside
00:46:58So busy
00:46:59My father used to hold my arm
00:47:00Not to lose me
00:47:01Not anymore
00:47:02It's closed completely
00:47:03Restricted
00:47:03In order to get back in
00:47:05We can't go through there now
00:47:07Because they've closed
00:47:07It's closed
00:47:08So how do we get back in?
00:47:09You drive from another checkpoint
00:47:12Mm-hmm
00:47:17Through here?
00:47:18Yes
00:47:24Louis
00:47:25Coming through?
00:47:27Yes
00:47:27All right
00:47:28Okay, just on
00:47:28Just on
00:47:30What did it say?
00:47:31Green
00:47:31Green
00:47:32Green
00:47:32Green
00:47:33Green
00:47:33Green
00:47:37Push up, please
00:47:38Push up, please
00:47:40So now we're on the other side of the area where you couldn't walk before, right?
00:47:44Yes
00:47:44Where they stopped you from walking in front of the visitor centre
00:47:48Ah, but you need to get home
00:47:49Yes
00:47:50So what will you do?
00:47:51I will go around again
00:47:53I will go outside this checkpoint
00:47:55Go around to enter from another checkpoint
00:47:59And wait till the checkpoint opens
00:48:01To get into my house with my son
00:48:04You definitely can't come this way?
00:48:06I can't come this way
00:48:07Okay
00:48:07I can
00:48:08They won't let you through?
00:48:09No, they will not
00:48:11I will
00:48:11I'm not allowed
00:48:12I was happy to meet you
00:48:13Thank you so much
00:48:14Take care, bye-bye
00:48:22Bye-bye
00:48:29On the drive back from Hebron
00:48:32I reflected on the separate lives lived by Israelis and Palestinians
00:48:36and the unequal system of rights and justice
00:48:42We ran into a traffic jam caused by a bomb scare
00:48:47The road, the main artery in the West Bank
00:48:50is one of the few shared by Israelis and Palestinians
00:48:57For once, all were subject to delay
00:49:04It was a sobering experience visiting Hebron again
00:49:09Isa had told me he believed life was being made intolerable for Palestinians deliberately
00:49:14To make them leave
00:49:16And that the process was speeding up since October 7th
00:49:21And it was true that some settlers I'd met supported the deportation of Palestinians who won't submit to Jewish authority
00:49:30One of them was Ari, a Texan born and raised in Houston
00:49:34Now resident deep inside the occupied West Bank
00:49:41Good to see you
00:49:42Good to see you
00:49:43Good to see you, how are you?
00:49:44All right
00:49:45A little under the weather
00:49:46I'm sorry to hear that
00:49:47Thank you for having us back
00:49:50Hoping to understand a little better, I'd return to see him again
00:49:53Okay, okay, we're ready for the coffee
00:49:55I really hope I do this right
00:49:58I never know if you wear those guns just for effect
00:50:01I don't know what effect I'm looking for
00:50:03Do I want to look more militant?
00:50:04Yeah, no, I'm not wearing it just for effect
00:50:06Do you want to sit down?
00:50:11We've talked a lot about how you see the importance of Jewish presence in the biblical land of Israel
00:50:21Are you saying that you see Israel as playing a role for modeling a new kind of nationalism?
00:50:28Is that right?
00:50:29I think that all of what's happening in the world right now is leading us as a nation to open
00:50:36our eyes to who we are
00:50:37We are the tip of the spear fighting the battles of America and defending the entire Western world
00:50:44And not just the Western world, anyone who wants any semblance of liberty and freedom in their lives
00:50:49Nevertheless, there are millions of people up and down the area, Arabs, Muslims, who aren't living free, right?
00:50:57They're enclosed without the same rights, without national self-determination
00:51:03And in many respects, feeling besieged
00:51:06And I just wonder, do you see that?
00:51:08I don't have tremendous compassion for a society that has an unquenchable, genocidal, theological bloodlust
00:51:20It's like a death cult
00:51:21It seems to me there's a danger with that characterization of Palestinians
00:51:25You define them as eliminationist and hateful and genocidal
00:51:30Yeah, I use the words death cult also
00:51:32That's a death cult
00:51:34That then permits you to almost create a mirror image of that
00:51:38That you say, well, if they want to do that to us, then we need to do that to them
00:51:43I think that when you're living amongst people who have perpetually proven, not only by word, but by deed
00:51:51That they want your blood spilled in the streets, that they want to murder your children, that they want to
00:51:56slay all of you, kill all of you, in the most horrific, genocidal way
00:52:00That all of the polls showed, after October 7th, that these people who you continuously call the Palestinian people
00:52:06That I reject the very premise that they are actually a real nation, for a lot of reasons
00:52:13But the millions of people who have nothing to do with October 7th, right, who actually just would like to
00:52:20live free, full lives
00:52:22If that's really what they wanted, they would have had it a long time ago
00:52:26They want to wipe Israel off the map, they want every last Jew dead
00:52:31So what's the answer?
00:52:33The answer is for us to declare sovereignty over all of Judea and Samaria
00:52:38And all of the land of Israel
00:52:40And Gaza
00:52:42And to settle Gaza and all of Judea and Samaria with Jews in the land of Israel
00:52:49Did the question annoy you?
00:52:53Annoying me, I just, I hear it so often
00:52:56And it feels like it's being addressed again and again and again
00:53:00Even if the entire world is pointing, accusing fingers and gnashing their teeth in rage and anger
00:53:05We know the righteousness and the truth of our cause, even if we stand alone
00:53:09That's what it means to be a Hebrew, that's what it means to be a Jew
00:53:13If we know the truth of our cause, that's all we need
00:53:20For Ari, it was clear that nothing is greater than the word of God
00:53:24And that word had led him to believe that it was the divine right of the Jewish people
00:53:28To settle and rule this land
00:53:31Good to see you
00:53:32See you later
00:53:34God to bless and protect you
00:53:36Amen
00:53:39The Bible was, as he saw it, a land deed to the West Bank
00:53:49With an afternoon free, I stopped for coffee in the Palestinian city of Nablus
00:54:00Surrounded by the ancient architecture of the old city
00:54:03And the undeniable fact of the hundreds of thousands of people living there
00:54:08And their aspirations for statehood
00:54:13At the edge of the city, we were held up at one of the many checkpoints
00:54:17That control the people entering and leaving
00:54:23Can you put the gun down?
00:54:27Where you from?
00:54:28From London
00:54:28You've been in the market?
00:54:30Yes
00:54:32You also?
00:54:34Yes
00:54:35She work with you?
00:54:36She's American
00:54:36Yes, can you show me ID?
00:54:38Me?
00:54:40Everyone
00:54:41Yeah, sure
00:54:42It's very slow going
00:54:44We've been there in that queue for an hour or more
00:54:46Yes
00:54:49What the...
00:54:50How much time you gonna stay in Israel?
00:54:52Hang on, but I don't think we're in Israel
00:54:54Huh?
00:54:55Are we in Israel?
00:54:57You're in Israel now?
00:54:58Are we?
00:54:59Yes
00:54:59In the West Bank? No?
00:55:06In the north of the West Bank, I was heading back to the settlement of Eviatar
00:55:10Where I'd been hosted by Malkiel, the horse wrangler
00:55:16Since my visit, I'd learned a little more about the settlement's relations with its neighboring Palestinian town of Betar
00:55:24How Betar had been subject to settler attacks and how it, in turn, had organized regular protests of the settlement
00:55:33Demonstrators had been killed and others wounded during the clashes
00:55:38One of the deaths of a Turkish-American volunteer, Ayshanur Ezgi Egi, made headlines
00:55:52Now the settlement was holding a festival to celebrate its recent recognition by the Israeli state
00:56:02Entertainments had been laid on, and families from settlements from around the West Bank had converged for a day of
00:56:08music and activities
00:56:13One of those speaking was Daniella
00:56:15I am very proud of the blessings of the peace of the Lord
00:56:24From the peace of the Lord, the years that passed, and until this moment
00:56:29I have not tried, at the moment, at the moment
00:56:33I have tried to act for more and more of Eviatarists, more and more of the peace of the Lord
00:56:42Happy birthday!
00:56:52How are you?
00:56:55Yeah, it's a bit quieter
00:56:57As the festivities wound down, I had a moment to speak to Daniella on a hilltop overlooking the Palestinian town
00:57:03of Betar
00:57:06So you've been talking about settling, you've talked about displacing, wanting the Palestinians to go
00:57:10You said to Africa, to Canada, to England, you don't care where
00:57:15What would be wrong with either a two-state solution or a one-state solution where everyone had the same
00:57:19rights?
00:57:21We want to have a Jewish state based on Jewish rules, on Jewish values
00:57:29It's not relationship of neighbours
00:57:31Why not?
00:57:32Because we are two different nations
00:57:35Different
00:57:36I just wonder whether you feel or you're aware that, you know, they're really suffering
00:57:42And there's been settlers rampaging through the area of the West Bank
00:57:47So there's all this...
00:57:50Agitation
00:57:50Death
00:57:52Tragedy, right?
00:57:53Tragedy
00:57:54When a people is invaded, right?
00:57:57And then put under a military occupation, deprived of their rights
00:58:01That anger seems to be an understandable response, an appropriate response
00:58:06There is no such thing as settler violence
00:58:10Did I speak... I don't know if I felt... I don't mind saying it again, I mean
00:58:15And I don't mind... I will be glad to explain it
00:58:18You don't believe it's real? There are videos, you can see them
00:58:21You see what?
00:58:23Okay, let's say...
00:58:24We have a camera right here
00:58:26And I do this
00:58:29Yeah
00:58:30Do something, you don't mind what I did to you, you don't necessarily have to do
00:58:35Well, I won't do that to you
00:58:36No
00:58:38And then the camera takes just part
00:58:43You don't have the full picture
00:58:45Then I say you're violent
00:58:48You're violent against a woman
00:58:50This is exactly what is going on all the time
00:58:54With what you call...
00:58:57Settler violence
00:59:00Settlers do not wake up in the morning
00:59:03Or do not go...
00:59:06Wait for sundown to attack
00:59:08No, no, no, no
00:59:09Why should we wake up in the morning and think about violence?
00:59:15Why our life is good?
00:59:17Because you want the Palestinians to leave
00:59:20No, no, no, no
00:59:21You've said so
00:59:22I said that what is on my mind all the time
00:59:27Is how to bring more people to settle the land
00:59:32This is a new development by Jews
00:59:36This is Har Bracha
00:59:38This is Itzha
00:59:40This we can... here we can develop
00:59:42Here we cannot develop
00:59:44I never think in terms of...
00:59:47I know this is Beta
00:59:48I don't think in... I don't think about Beta
00:59:51Why not?
00:59:53Because I think about... I'm a Jew
00:59:55The people... I'm a settler
00:59:57I'm a human being
00:59:59Yes you are, so are they
01:00:00So... I do not think about this
01:00:04You're thinking about tribalism
01:00:05Thinking of your own people to the exclusion
01:00:07It would be understandable to think of your own people
01:00:09Or your own children first
01:00:10But to think about other people, other children, not at all
01:00:14That seems sociopathic
01:00:18I can...
01:00:19Doesn't it?
01:00:20No, not at all
01:00:21This is normal
01:00:23To my children
01:00:24I give everything
01:00:26Because I...
01:00:27The normal thing for me
01:00:30Is to pray for my own people
01:00:34That's it
01:00:34So now I continue
01:00:38I hope you push me back
01:00:48And so I said goodbye to Daniela
01:00:51And her extreme ideology delivered with a smile
01:01:01Fourteen years on from my first visit
01:01:03With the horror of October 7th in the interim
01:01:06And the ongoing devastation of Gaza
01:01:09The settler dream shows no sign of abating
01:01:14Along with the dislocation, displacement and death
01:01:17That follows inevitably in its train
01:01:20Advanced by ideologues
01:01:22Backed up by those in power
01:01:24And accountable only to God
01:01:27Any predictions?oral
01:01:28không? Tên?
01:01:40Tên?
01:01:43Tên?
01:01:45Tên?
01:01:47Tên?
01:01:47Tên?
01:01:48Tên?
01:01:48Tên?
01:01:48Tên?
01:01:49Tên?
01:01:50Tên?
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