Israel's Existential Threat From Within

from The New York Times I'm Sabrina. tavernes and this is a special episode. of The. [Music]. Daily the eyes of the world have been on. the war in Gaza which has no end in. sight but there is another conflict in. the other Palestinian territory that has. gotten less attention where life has. become increasingly untenable the West. Bank they demolished the school they. demolished most of the houses overnight.

in the occupied West Bank the Israeli. military has carried out new raid it's. part of an upsurge in violence across. the West Bank involving Palestinian. armed groups Israeli settlers and. Israeli forces today I talked to my. colleague Ronan Bergman about why things. are likely to get worse and the long. history of the extremist political. forces inside Israel that he says are. leading the country to an existential. crisis.

[Music]. it's Wednesday September. [Music]. 18th so Ronan as we've seen in recent. weeks the war in Gaza is nowhere near a. ceasefire and in the West Bank there's. this increase in violence a rise in in.

Israeli and Palestinian terrorism and. you and our colleague Mark mazetti have. not only been reporting on what's going. on there now but you've also done an. extensive investigation about why this. is happening and what you found is that. it has everything to do with the rise of. the extreme right in Israel yes there's. a huge escalation of violence in the. West Bank right now and it can be. explained by a long and complicated. story it's a story of 60 years internal.

battle in Israel that has brought us to. this moment where many in Israel who. want a lawful Democratic country are now. losing out to ultra nationalist. heartwright. extremist who are now in powerful. position in the Israeli. government and who are dragging the. country to the brink of an existential. crisis all right so where did you start. the reporting that led to this. conclusion so back in.

2015 one event really convinced me to. pursue this story Fury today at a. senseless crime in a region that has. seen so. many when a Jewish terrorists burned. down a house in the West Bank Village. called Duma arsonists throwing fire. bombs into the house setting it a light. and killed Palestinian family three. people including a todler the victim. this time a pal Ian toddler 18-month-old.

Ali deab Ali died in the horrifying the. attack is believed to have been carried. out by militant Jewish settlers who. scrawled menacing messages on the walls. of the family's home and so as I was. reporting about this horrible incident I. spoke with a person called Amon Major. General Amon who was the former Chief of. the shin bed that's the Israeli Security. Agency the sort of equivalent to the.

FBI and I asked him something like how. come the shinb is just unable to prevent. this kind of horrible horrible attack I. had this this question in my mind for. for years because the the attack on Duma. on that poor family was not an isolated. thing for decades there have been many. attacks on Palestinians from Jewish. extremists uh destruction of property. violence.

uh killing of cattle and cases of murder. and because the shinb is known has. longtime reputation at least until. October 7 that it's famous for. protecting Israeli citizens from all. kind of terrorist attacks from Arab. militants I try to understand from. Ione why can't they do the same for. Jewish terrorists as they are doing for. Palestinian.

terrorists there must be some kind of. equivalent lines in how you catch a. terrorist but he said don't you know. that the Shin Bet is plugged into a much. much bigger phenomena of the failure of. the whole Israeli Administration defense. establishment the prosecutors the judges. the police all of them in enforcing the. law on the extreme settlers and the. ultra right nationalists in Israel he. said it all comes from from the.

political. level the cabinet the government the. prime minister they are signaling to. thein bet and the other relevant law. enforcement agencies that if a Jew is. killed by terrorist is. horrible but if an Arab is killed by. terrorist it's not good but it's not. that bad o. [Music]. and then on top of.

that while asking sources while asking. Israeli official this same question. about investigating Jewish. extremism other officials and former. officials made very dark predictions. some of them said that because this. violence against Arabs is. tolerated it won't be long until the. Lawless until the fugitives until those. Jewish extremist sometimes Jewish.

terrorist will become the law will. become a legitimate part of the Israeli. government so these officials almost 10. years ago were saying to you Jewish. terrorists are so tolerated by the. Israeli government that they will one. day become the law they will become that. government yes you know sometimes people. come to me sources officials Nos and. tell me stories that I titled them too. bad to be true it's like you know it's a. script nice script for a Netflix.

episode but you know it's too much but. when taking a much deeper dive with my. great colleagues and Friends Mark. mazetti Natan. odenheimer for over eight a half years. we talked to hundreds of people. including many many hiring Israeli. government officials American government. officials former heads of the shid betet. and and other agencies former Prime. Ministers and we looked at different.

video documentation of programiz Arab. Village we looked at throws massive. throws of secret. documents and at the end of that long. long. journey what we found was not only that. the dark predictions of those officials. from years ago became the. reality but also that this happened. because the state of Israel was just. looking looking the other.

[Music]. way after many years of reporting in. Israel it is clear to me that at the end. of the day Israel will be able to defend. itself from outside. enemies where the real danger lies is. inside it's about the challenging to the. foundation of the Jewish State as a. democratic and as a lawful country.

that protects everybody and enforce the. law on everybody and the depth of the. challenge threatens the foundation of. the country of my. [Music]. country so Ronan just to prepare people. here the history of all of this that. you're outlining it is so thoroughly. reported very sweeping it's expands many.

many decades and it's really the story. of the battle over what Israel should be. and how the ultra rights vision of. Israel seems to be winning that battle. now so where should we. start so I think a good point to start. is at the end of The Six Day War June. 1967 and the whole Middle East was. thrown into war for the third time since. its birth as an independent State Israel.

is embroiled in a war with the Arab. Nations that surround her but it lasted. only 6. days Israel took the Sinai Peninsula and. the Gaza Strip from Egypt and the West. Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan and. the Golan Heights from Syria in. Practical terms Israel sees territory. twice its original size expanding in all. directions taking control over a. territory with something like a million.

Palestinians signaling an unbelievable. triumphant Victory against three massive. Arab armies and the transition was Swift. the citizens of Israel woke up and felt. now they are. superpower and from the first day the. first day after the war it was unclear. what Israel is going to do with this. massive territory that is just seized.

many people in Israel thought that they. need to Bart back the territories for. peace basically returning it to the Arab. countries or creating a new Palestinian. state for those million Palestinian and. others in the diaspora but other people. with ultra nationalist religious. background according to them Bel seizing.

those territories was the hand of God it. was the Jewish people coming back to the. biblical Israel that land the. territories the West Bank the Gaza Strip. according to their belief was promised. to the Jewish people by God making them. the Jews the Israelis the owner of this. place so these are two very different. reactions to Israel suddenly being in. control of all this land.

one side sees this new land as something. that they can trade to establish peace. and security for Israelis essentially a. bargaining chip another side sees this. as a chance to keep the land for Jews. yes exactly okay so with these two. visions I want to talk about who is in. each Camp let's start with the people. who don't want to keep the territories. like the West Bank forever and who want. to barter the land back for peace who. are they so they are largely people who. who are sort of aligned politically with.

the original founders of Israel people. who are mostly secular more leaning to. the left people who want to have a. democratic Jewish. state that ensures the security of Jews. but who also understands that the Arab. neighbors the neighboring states of. Israel and of course the Palestinians. they will never accept Israel taking. over this entire territory and the fact. that they don't have have their own. Palestinian State this will always be a.

major obstacle to any positive. development in the Middle East those. people are open to negotiate an Israeli. withdraw in an establishment of a. Palestinian State and they are primarily. interested in Israel's security over. everything. else security to them means not just. defending yourself from outside forces. but also having a democratic lawful. state.

and what about the other side the people. who want to make territory like the West. Bank part of Israel permanently who were. they and what's their backstory you know. it's not monolithic uh but broadly. speaking they are like two groups one. let's call them secular right- Wingers. they. potentially could discuss an. establishment of Palestinian state but. they say that from a sheer point of. security it would be much safer for.

Israel to control the West Bank rather. than to give the West Bank to another. state another entity that they are. concerned will become hostile to Israel. and then there is another group who are. looking at the situation from very. different point of. view they believe that by actually. control rolling these.

lands they could. Hassen the. arrival of the. [Music]. Messiah and in order to make sure that. this Messiah will come as soon as. possible the right way to do that would. be to establish. settlements in those occupied. territories to make sure they will never. be given back to an Arab Nation or. Palestinian people but Israel got.

control over these territories in the. war so why this need to settle them so. the official relationship is it's an. occupied territory and occupied. territory according to international law. everybody are under the authority of the. military commander and under the rule of. military law but many of those Ultra. nationalist religious Israelis they. realize that military. can be ordered to evacuate during some.

kind of a peace treaty CU military does. what it's told to do mhm but when you. have at the beginning small outposts. then settlements then. cities those are going to be very hard. to evacuate all right so Israel gets. this land some Israelis see this land as. leverage something to trade with Arab. adversaries or for a Palestinian state. but this other group of religious Ultra. nationalists are like no all that Land.

Is Ours by divine right and we don't. ever want to trade this land away for. anything and the best way to prevent the. land from being given away is by. settling the land themselves knowing. that it would be harder to give away if. there are Jewish Israelis living there. yes exactly but there's one small. problem it was illegal under the. military. orders the military that governs these. territories so what these religious. Ultra nationalists wanted to do is just. not allowed by the.

state but they started taking action. towards that goal. [Music]. anyway so the central Ultra nationalist. religious group was called gush amunim. the block of the faithful and so one day. in. 1975 they gim suddenly came to a. deserted Jordanian military camp in the. West Bank and declare that this is their.

Outpost bloodly violating orders from. the military that this is totally. totally. illegal and instead of ordering the. military Shimon Perez who was in charge. of the of the military in the IDF and. therefore in charge of the West Bank he. was not a settler or an ultra. nationalist supporter in any way I don't. think he liked them. but fearing to confront them and their.

base he allowed them to stay and in. order not to call that just impunity and. disregarding the law that he was. supposed to enforce he called that a. working camp and so Paris was creating. an alibi for himself and for the state. and those tricks this euphemism this. this laundering of words and terminology. is a first move that showed the settlers.

that even if they do something that is. bluntly illegal if they are stubborn. enough they will win right which seems. like it would only embolden them to. learn that they can get away with. breaking the law yes it gave them. massive. backwind and so that early settlement it. grew it grew into many more settlements. that spread across the West Bank and.

eventually some years later to Gaza and. that point in the late 70s the. settlement project by those Ultra. nationalists was fully underway and they. thought they wouldn't have any more. resistance because in. 1977 for the first time in Israel. history the right the liud party is in. control of the country and it's led by B.

and. typically leaders on the right were. supportive of the settlement not so. eager to negotiate with Arab neighbors. peace in return for land but beg. surprised everybody. peace now celebrates a great. victory for the Nations of Egypt and. Israel and from all mankind. at the first part of his term he signs a.

historical peace Accord with Egypt the. midi Summit at Camp David is over and. Israel and Egypt have agreed to two. documents taking a giant step toward. achieving peace in their troubled corner. of the world and in return for peace he. gives back the whole of the Sinai. Peninsula after evacuating the Jewish. Israeli settlements from there Israel's. side it seems that ban has agreed to.

negotiate the removal of Israeli. settlements from the Sinai so Israel. negotiates a Wayland for peace in. control exactly now both sadad and bean. are left with the responsibility of. selling those concessions to their own. constituencies so while the Bakin. government supported the ongoing. settlement campaign it also gave back. territory that the settlers thought. should not be given back at any price at.

any cost at any term because they are. part of the Biblical land of. Israel and they saw that as a threat. that it will happen again that more land. might be Bartered away yes and so the. withdraw from the Sinai Peninsula led to. an outburst of violence from the. settlers some extreme settlers wanted to. signal to the Israeli government that. they would cause chaos if any more land.

is negotiated away with the Arab. countries and so they start attacking. Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaz. and then in June of 1980 what was later. called the Jewish underground which was. an extremist offshoot within the settler. movement attempted to blow up three. prominent Palestinian Mayors in the West. Bank they put bombs in the cars and. severely injured two of. them and so once these attacks happened.

some senior officials said the military. just failed to condemn them what did. they say they said this is. welcome the military commander of the. West Bank when referred to the bombs. that hit the lower part of the body of. the. Bears he said it's a pity they did not. aim. higher hinting that. he wish they died now when the settlers.

when the members of this group the. Jewish Underground when they hear the. military commander of the area saying. something like that they understand what. you know everybody would understand this. is encouragement this is not condemning. this is not enforcing the law this is a. sort of a weaked nod with a smile with. humor why didn't they have higher they. should have killed him.

so this is a very clear sign from the. people who were supposed to be enforcing. the law that violence toward. Palestinians is not only not bad it. might even be good that's right so Ronan. in this period of the 1980s where. Israeli is trying to fight back against. this apathy toward Palestinian lives and. just general disregard for the rule of. law on the West Bank I assume Israelis. would be appalled I don't think. theoretically that you are wrong Sabrina. I just think that they didn't know the. people in Israel the public they didn't.

know what is happening there it's remote. relative remote to distances in Israel. the Press was almost not covering. anything that happened there but there. were people who got made aware of the. situation this impunity and they. realized how horrible the situation is. so a group of law professors from both. the Tel Aviv and the Jerusalem Hebrew.

universities wrote a letter to the. Attorney General of. Israel they said you should open an. investigation about Jewish terrorism and. violence and the Attorney General he was. a p he didn't know as well he's the. Attorney General of the state and he. doesn't know so he calls in his Deputy. for special duties Judith carp and he.

assigned her to lead a committee that. would go and thoroughly. investigate the claims and concerns of. those. professors when they started to. investigate they realized that the. situation in on the ground is much worse. than described in the professor's. letter and they discovered the whole. system of total. negligence inability to execute.

efficient and just interrogation. investigation on claims of Jewish crimes. they found the police that is completely. incapable of doing its job and a. military that in spite of being in. charge of the security of the region is. completely helpless in supplying that. security to the Palestinian inhabitants. so this carp report was pretty damning. pretty Prett damning and then this was.

so secret because of course the local. and international implication of such a. report are significant but the Attorney. General was assured by the ministers. that this will be brought to the cabinet. and thoroughly discussed and there will. be steps taken following that and the. longtime minister of the police invited. karp to his home to discuss the report. now cop was sure that he wants to hear. more maybe to congratulate her for this.

work but instead she. recalls he started to attack her for. what they are. doing and soon she realized that they're. going to do nothing they're going to. bury the report which in the end LED. carp to resign the posters leading that. team because she realized nothing is. going to be. done and uh in retrospect carp said we. were naive. [Music].

and so the 80s and the 90s saw a growing. turmoil in the West Bank in. Gaza the settlement project continues. and there were more and more attacks. from extremists on both. sides and then in. 1987 the Palestinian frustration from. the continuous occupation and the.

settlement project explodes into. something that will be known as the. first in the First. uprise Palestinian just had enough and. it was clear to them that with the. harassment the condoning of violence the. expansion of the settlements it was. clear that Israel was not really. interested in bartering the West Bank in. Gaza for reconciliation and the. Palestinians were just.

furious massive protests some of it. deteriorates into violence. terrorism with many thousands of young. Israeli soldiers that are sent to the. territories to crush the protest and. that along with this idea of continuous. support to the settlements most Israelis. just came to feel that this is not what. they.

want that it just cannot go on and this. leads Rin the head of the labor party. the party on the left winning a. triumphant victory in. 1992 because people in Israel were. seeking for a solution they were seeking. for reconciliation and Rabin tried to do. something different Rabin was was a. famous military commander who devoted.

his whole life to the security of Israel. but while focusing on making sure people. in Israel feel safe he also promised he. would try to negotiate a sustainable. peace with the. Palestinians and people thought that if. anyone could do that it was Rabin we'll. have to reach the agreement the partner. are the Palestinians in the territory. now everybody. that any kind of agreement with the.

Palestinian people or with their. representative the PLO the Palestinian. Liberation. Organization needs to have first and. foremost an agreement to a Palestinian. State and in that Palestinian State the. vast majority or all the settlements. will be taken down and the people in. them should be withdrawn back into the. borders of Israel so you're saying that. rabin's election really represented a. realization among Israelis that the. vision of the ultra nationalists and the.

settlers was a problem and it was time. to change course negotiate ultimately to. give land back to the. Palestinians yes so first of all he. ordered a total freezing of all new. settlements but second he agreed to a. secret Channel with the PLO that ended. with what we know as the oo. PS today the leadership of Israel and. the Palestine Liberation Organization. will sign a declaration of principles on.

interim Palestinian self-government. historical agreement with the. Palestinian Liberation Organization with. its Chief Jas. arat and at the end signing a road map. that though not declared in those words. but was the road for the establishment. of an independent Palestinian State and. there was a moment of great hope echoed. in the speeches of isak Rabin who said.

today we are embarking on a battle which. has no dead and no wounded no blood and. no anguish this is the only battle which. is a pleasure to wage the battle for. peace now it's time to turn for. peace you're describing this as a moment. of Hope but just for some right Ronan I. mean not for everybody for the ultra.

nationalists I expect they had a very. different reaction to this yes from. their point of view it's a blasphemy of. course they understand this is the end. of of the whole project so the ultra. nationalist again as in the 80s. following the withraw from the sinan. peninsula after the piece called with. Egypt again they sought to undermine. this effort towards peace which they. understood would involve giving away way. more land so they reacted with more.

violence towards the. [Music]. Palestinians there was an escalation of. harassment and attacks and that reached. a peak on the 25th of February. 1994 bar gin one of the most according. to shinb the most. dangerous activist of the ultra right. settlers in Israel back then wearing IDF.

uniforms carrying a galile assault rifle. enter the Cave of the patriarch a holy. place of worship for both Jews and. Muslims it was in the middle of Ramadan. it was full with local Palestinians. praying and he just stood in front of. them easily Crossing all the cross. checks and cross points and screening. processes that should have been and were. not in place by the Israeli police and. military he stood there and just opened.

fire replacing the empty magazine again. and. again he was able to kill 29 of the. worshippers injuring. 125 of. them in the West Bank Town of Hebron a. US born Israeli settler named Baro. Goldstein opens fire in a crowded mosque. and at the end he was taken down by the.

other worshippers and. [Music]. killed that shocked everybody and most. of all it shocked rabid who gave a. speech on theet the Israel Parliament. Podium where he said.

to those who applauded what Goldstein. just did he said you are not part of us. you are not part of the Jewish people we. don't have any connection with you. trying to Outcast. [Music]. them but of course it did not kill the. movement or the spirit or stop the. activity of the fans and followers maybe. even was inflated by what Goldstein has.

done which they saw as an act of Courage. something that should have been done not. just to those but to all the Arabs and. they just. continued what happened was that not. only do the Israeli Ultra right. extremists not stop this violence they. celebrate the violence and eventually. rum up the violence to a degree that no. one in Israel could have even.

imagined and so after the Israeli. government did not allow to bury. Goldstein in Hebron in the West Bank one. of them an extremist supporter probably. the most vocal one he was able to erect. the tomb for Goldstein in kirat arba. that's a nearby. settlement with an Epitaph saying that. Goldstein was a saint that he died with. Clean Hands and with pure heart and this. young extremist supporter of this mass.

shooting he was just a teenager he had. joined the youth movement of a political. group that advocated the expulsion of. Arabs from. Israel and for many years on the. anniversary of this massacre this young. man paraded and celebrated he danced and. he sang for the saint for his Clean. Hands and Pure Heart Gold. and the name of that person back then it.

meant nothing to any Israeli his name. was itamar. benir itamar benav maybe the most. prominent figure in the ultra Right. Movement today and a member of. netanyahu's cabinet not just the member. of the cabinet but also the minister for. National Security in charge of the. police the person who was arrested. dozens of time indicted and also at the. end convicted in incitement to racism. and and in support of terrorist. organization and now he is in charge of.

the police the Lawless became the. [Music]. law maybe the one thing that everybody. in Israel. remembered was when the same itamar. benir in o October. 1995 held the ornament of a Cadillac.

that he said he stole from the Prem. Minister car and said in the same way. that we could get to steal that me we. could get to rabin's car we will get to. Rabin himself so he holds up the hood. ornament that he apparently ripped off. of rabin's car and he's saying if we can. get this hood ornament we can get to him. meaning we could kill him. that's right and then on November 4th.

1995 just few weeks after. it showed off with this onent of the. Cadillac the shet was unable to protect. rabin's life from one assassin with a. gun that in the most almost nonchalant. way pass all security pulled the gun and. killed the prime minister of the Jewish. [Music].

State rabine stepped off the stage a. gunman slipped through and fired at. Point Blank Range police have the. apparent assassin in custody he's. described as a law student in his 20s. and as affiliated with radical Jewish. settlers eal Amir the 27-year-old law. student who said that God told him to. kill the prime minister of Israel. and so we see how far the most extreme.

on the far right were willing to go to. realized their goal settling all the. Biblical land of Israel and preventing. peace with the Palestinians they were. not just willing to terrorize. Palestinians in the territories they. were willing to kill Palestinians to. kill Israelis Jews the leader of the. Jewish state of. Israel and with that assassination. rabin's effort to stop the ultra.

nationalist movement and the settlement. project died as. [Music]. well we'll be right. back okay renan so far you've told us. about the origins of this country kind. of epic battle over land and dueling. Visions for what Israel should be a.

lawful Democratic country or one ruled. by extremist forces and how the. extremists got so Brazen that they. killed their own prime minister yukarin. because he was going to give away land. in exchange for a peace deal yeah so how. do we go from that assassination of. rabine to the present where those same. extremists including itamar benir are. Central figures in the Israeli. government so after rid's assassination. the oso pce process faltered and.

eventually falls. apart which is of course exactly what. the extremist wanted the settlement. project in the West Bank and Gaza. continues to expand roads. electricity they all continued to run to. more and more settlements in fact in. this period the state itself was. secretly funding and constructing these. in legal settlement through a network of. officials in the government that.

intentionally obscure the state. participation meaning like actual. taxpayer funded resources are secretly. going into developing illegal. settlements in the West Bank yes that's. right and of course as we have seen in. the past like with the first itif the. first. Uprising when it's clear to the. Palestinians that Israel isn't committed. to preventing illegal settlements. and isn't really working towards giving.

a Palestinians an independent state it. creates. frustration and that frustration is then. very easily exploited by Palestinian. extremists like like Hamas they try to. inflame the situation and again they. succeed only this time it was much much. [Music]. worse there was a huge explosion of. violence and it was later called the. second.

in a suicide bomber killed at least 15. people late today in Israel the blast. targeted a nightclub in a town south of. Tel the second in the second Uprising. erupted on the 29th of September 2000. with a total loss of control by the. Israeli military one of the worst. suicide bombings yet tonight at a resort. hotel in Northern Israel.

and a wave of suicide bombers that seems. to be endless from Hamas and Palestinian. Islamic Jihad Palestinian woman carrying. explosives blew herself up in a. restaurant at least 19 Israelis were. killed including several. children and of course Israel responds. with. Force tonight Israel's top leaders are. meeting to decide how to retaliate a. government Source says there will be a.

harsh response the Israeli public. already demanding sharp quick hard. retaliation against the Palestinians and. at the end of 5 years of Uprising and. attacks around 1,000 Israelis and 3,000. Palestinians were. [Music]. killed and after that the Israeli. population largely moved politically to.

the right the appetite for working with. Palestinians to was peace was. essentially gone and the desire for a. heavy hand against the Palestinians won. the day point it seems almost certain. that the Israelis will elect the. controversial and conservative Ariel. Chiron the former General who believes. that Israel has already given the. Palestinians too much in the peace talks. in 2001. they elected Ariel Chiron as prime.

minister nicknamed the bulldozer for his. program to clear land on the West Bank. to settle Israelis and shiron has been. known for years for his Avid support of. the settlement project a veteran of all. Israel's Wars with a notorious. reputation for brutality with Arabs and. and also his harsh treatment over the. Palestinians during his time in the. military during his time as minister of. defense Chiron is seen as a tough leader. who can stop the violence so unlike the.

first inata where Israelis reacted by. electing someone who would aim for peace. this time the Israelis elected a. right-wing leader who they thought would. crush the uprising with Force yep but. surprise. again partly because of the United. States was using its enormous leverage. to push very hard for two-state solution. Chiron soon realized that he needs to do.

a total political reversal that the only. way to sustain the Jewish project of. Israel to continue to be in good. standing in the world there is no other. alternative but to go to a political. solution with the Palestinians to go for. a two-state solution and that he cannot. do without disassembling the illegal. settlements. so basically Chiron comes to a similar.

conclusion as rabine even though they're. on totally different sides of the. political spectrum and started with. totally different attitudes about the. settlement project they both end up at. the conclusion that the only way to. achieve security for Israel is to. negotiate with the Palestinians which. means giving back land in exchange for. peace yes and so he did few things the. most important of which was to declare. the disengagement pulling out of Gaza. and disassembling some of the. settlements in the West West Bank which. you know was not very popular with his.

own base and very unpopular with the. Jewish Ultra nationalist we don't want. to leave this is ours and when something. is right if this is our house and we're. not going to give it up the nazist did. this I'm I'm ashamed I could cry that. this happened Jews don't that Bo Jews. there was even an incident where a group. of extreme right wiers settlers. attempted to blow up a major Israeli. Highway all to prevent the withdraw from. Gaza now that plot was foiled but it.

shows how much the extremist hated this. move by prime minister Ariel Chiron a. guy who used to be the greatest champion. of the settlement project but now was. trying to pull out of. Kaza despite their efforts however the. pull out eventually does happen in 2005.

so Ariel Chiron successfully pulls out. of Gaza but what happened with his. parallel effort to pull out of the West. Bank so he ordered the disassembled of. settlements but somehow this coffee. didn't get down the machine the orders. vaporized through the chain of command. and nothing happened why what went wrong. the secret Aid given to the IL legal. settlement project was so absorbed into. the. administration because the government.

services were so infiltrated by syers to. the settlements it would have taken a. long time to bypass the obstacles that. were put in order to. prevent the disassembly of the the. settlements and so PR Minister shiron. was giving orders trying to overcome the. resistance inside the. administration but before enough robust.

effort could be put in place in January. 2006 prime minister shun suffered the. stroke he went into a coma from which he. never recovered he ran out of time to. really dismantle the government Network. that had been supporting the settlers. there yes but the extremist what they. deducted from this affair. was that there is a viable threat for.

yet more withdrawals more evacuations. more negotiation for peace with the. Palestinians something they have to. prevent like if Chiron a champion of the. settlement movement was willing to pull. out of Gaza and try to withdraw from the. West Bank then any leader might try it. again. exactly one of their Chief ideologists. told me years later he said their. conclusion. was that as long as the state has all.

those. institutions the Supreme Court the. ministry of. Justice the. military there will always be a. threat for yet another evacuation maybe. a total evacuation of the whole of the. West Bank which they see as their. own and so they need to make yet a step. further. not just to erect more.

settlements but to actually take a part. or control those institutions they had. to come to the. inside they have to come to the inside. to infiltrate the administration that. they hate so much meaning they have to. become. [Music]. politicians and so some of these. extremists decide to come out of the.

Shadows they get proper haircuts put on. a suit and Sabrina you remember it benir. of course the guy who celebrated the. mass murder of Palestinian in Hebron who. stole the hood ornament from rid's car. just before his assassination so de. benir he goes to law school and he. became the leader of at that time very. small far right extremist political. party called otma yudit or Jewish power.

just by the name you can understand the. nature and another extremist a settler. named betsalel. smotri he started bilding up his. political career as well do you remember. the plot to blow up the highway when. shiron was pulling out of Gaza MH so. there was substantial evidence that that. smri was part of that plot though he was. never Pro cuted like Ben he goes to.

become a more public facing activist for. racist anti-arab policies and he becomes. involved in yet another very small. farite Israeli party called the. religious Zionist party so both these. guys smotrich and. Ben they are still ideologically on the. far right but now they also professional. politicians who today are both in very. powerful positions in the Netanyahu.

government well how did that happen. exactly how did they go from the extreme. Fringe to the center of power well it. took a while initially Netanyahu shunned. the hard D Ultra Nationalist and he. famously wouldn't share the stage with. them but fast forward to 2019 nany. Israel's attorney general has indicted. the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on. this is when he gets indict on. corruption charges Netanyahu is accused. of doing out favors to Media tycoons in.

exchange for flattering news coverage. and hundreds of thousands of dollars in. gifts and that leads to a situation. ending with none of the central or the. leftwing parties agreed to sit in his. Coalition they said you Netanyahu you. cannot continue because you are on trial. for corruption and bribery and other. charges you cannot be the prime minister. so eventually he does lose the Prime. ministership in 2021 long time Israeli.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set. to be pushed out of office in just hours. but Netanyahu who never lost Hope to. come back again he wants to regain his. post as prime. minister Benjamin Netanyahu in order to. form a governing Coalition has now. aligned himself with Nationalist and. Orthodox parties and nany understood. that the only way he could get enough. support to become Prime Minister again.

is to partner up with the very small. Ultra right parties and their leaders. say Ben and smri because they are some. of the only politicians who would have. anything to do with him. [Music]. anymore breaking news in the Middle East. as well Benjamin Netanyahu will become. Prime Minister of Israel once again his. return is being directly tied to the. rise of his allly. Israel's extreme right this is being. described as Israel's most farri.

government since the country was. established back in. 1948 critic so the bottom line is that. people who have been actively supported. of terrorism or people who have. advocated for the most extreme racist. idea who just years before he nany. wouldn't be seen with now he partners. with them now Netanyahu can run again to. be the Prime Minister but only thanks to.

the support of it Ben and. betri who are now key pillars of his. Coalition in return for their support. Netanyahu gives them high record. position in his cabinet because for. Netanyahu worse than aligning with the. violent extremis would be for himself to. lose power so Ben is the minister of. National Security and smutr is both the.

Minister of Finance so controlling the. budget of the country and a minister at. the ministry of. Defense controlling all Israeli State. civilian activities in the West. [Music]. Bank so because it's the only way to get. back into Power Netanyahu goes all the. way with the extremists giving them. control over the territories they've. spent their lives trying to claim yes.

that's right okay so how does the rise. of the right play out on the ground in. the West Bank after leaders like benir. and smotrich move into those powerful. positions in the government I think the. best example was in February 2023 just. two months after the new government was. sworn in two settlers two brothers set. in a car going through kaara it's a. small town. in the West Bank and many settlers and. Palestinians are going through every day.

the terrorist from Hamas approached. their car pulled a gun and murdered. [Music]. them and shortly afterwards the the. social media of the ultra right was swed. with calls for Revenge one of the. leaders of one of the regional councils. of the settlers said that they should go. and wipe out haara that's the name of. that Village and smotri and minister at. the ministry of Defense when asked he. said yes I think we should wipe out.

Kara and just to make sure that he's. understood he said but I think the state. should do that we should not leave it to. private individual. hands and of course after he was. threatened not to be allowed to the US. he said I was not understood but of. course it's all recorded but the main. thing is that people in in the West Bank. settlers they got. it 400 of them that night went and.

attacked haara and burned down houses. and cars and animals heard of those. Villages and one Palestinian Sam was. [Music]. murdered one Israeli commander in the. region later when he spoke with us he.

called it a pogram he chose a word. obviously with special significance to. to Israel special significance to Jews. because of course that's the word used. to describe what happened to Jews. attacked in Eastern. [Music]. Europe and the shinb and the police and. the military though they monitor the. social media though it was clear that. it's going to happen sa you and I could.

get the warning because it's just there. on social media they don't even bother. they don't they lost the shame they. don't even bother to hide this but in. spite of all of that this was still not. prevented and I arrived to haar a few. hours later it was still burning and I. started to look at that case so 400. settlers attacking a. village but it's in spite of that being. a terrorist attack nobody was charged.

for what happened the military said we. are not sure that he died of shooting or. another health issue I had the picture. of his. body in the hospital where he died and. he had clear signs of a bullet big. bullet here in the chest I sent her the. IDF spokesperson the picture said yes he. died of a health issue called a.

bullet was clear how he died and then I. learned that the police has a GoPro. video taken by a camera on the chest of. one of the policemen of a settler. shooting and they did not even arrest. that settler it's unbelievable a person. dies they have a GoPro of at least. suspected person to shoot him it's just. I would say a total.

nonchalant to human lives so they just. stopped enforcing the law when it comes. to settlers in the West Bank exactly we. got hold of a secret document that shows. that smotri since he took charge of the. Civil Administration in the West Bank. stopped enforcing the law on illegal. settlements illegal Road illegal in. infrastructure for the settlements. everything it was brought to an almost.

total freeze after October 7 while the. whole of Israel the whole world were. looking at Gaza and then there is. another yet secret letter that shows. that the police almost completely. stopped answering calls from. Palestinians to come to help them when. they attacked by extreme settlers. following orders from the national. security minister it Ben so after.

October 7th literally a Palestinian. calls the police says their house is on. fire no response on the direct orders of. benav yes that's what the military the. Shin Bet are saying in top classified. documents and on top of that the economy. in the West Bank is it's just collapsing. Bales mric in his first hat as the. minister of Finance is intentionally. humbling the economy of the Palestinians.

who live in the West Bank so one thing. he does is not giving the Palestinian. the tax revenues that Israel collect for. them basically their money for goods. that are being imported through the. airports and the Sea ports of Israel. this is something like. 70% of the overall Palestinian budget H. and as if the economic situation in the. West was not horrible enough the. 150,000 Palestinians that had permit to.

go to Israel to work and bring a lot of. money back home they cannot go back. because Minister schrc after the war. forbids them and so they don't bring. back the money that hundreds of. thousands of Palestinian dependent on. and then this summer Ben so the minister. of National. Security visited the temp mountain in. Jerusalem and led public prayer on.

camera now that may not seem like a huge. provocation to do but in fact it is to. Muslims this is one of the most holiest. sites in the world and the current. agreement is that Jews are forbidden to. pray in this place and so doing that on. the mountain is a huge provocation and. everybody understand that certainly Ben. understand that. he knows that this could incite a war. all on its own in the past so much blood.

has been shed over the years for such. provocations what you're describing. Ronan the destruction of Palestinian. Villages Violence by extreme settlers. deliberate provocations by leaders. themselves this all sounds like it's. designed to cause an explosion exactly. so just this past August a Bomb Blast in. Tel Aviv late on Sunday has been. confirmed confirmed as a terrorist. attack that's according the Palestinian. blew himself up in central T Aviv the.

man carrying the bomb which exploded. near a synagogue was killed and a passer. by was injured that is this was the. first suicide bombing inside Israel in. the almost last. decade and then in late August partially. in reaction to this suicide bore the. Israeli military says it launched a. large counterterror operation overnight. in two refugees camps official the. Israeli Army did the 10day raid in. Janine Palestinian City in the West Bank.

it was one of the most extensive and. deadly raids in the West Bank in years. the Israeli Army said it killed 14. militants and detained 30 others who. were part of a militant group or. planning attacks of different kind but. of course there was also extensive under. Damage Done people are describing the. destruction left by the Israeli military. here is an earthquake everything here is. ripped up you can smell innocent.

civilians were killed and of course. quite a lot of physical destruction in. the. city and so the cycle of violence begins. once. [Music]. again Ronan do you think this is the. beginning of the third. inapa it's a very very very good. question and it's not the question just. that you Sabrina and I are asking many.

Israeli officials are asking themselves. and their colleagues that question with. great. concern there are more and more signs. indicating a third in TI is coming but. unlike in other times of Crisis that. occurred since the end of the second. intifa two decades ago that every time. these signs were picked up people were. very concerned and the Israeli. Administration government defense.

establishment ministers cabinet all. rallied in order to try to lower the. flame to do something to stop the. possible explosion now while the defense. establishment is alerting is telling. everybody listen we are on the brink. there are government officials cabinet. ministers that are look looking at the. same signs but they're not concerned. they're.

happy they are looking for an inter for. explosion for. Havoc so Sabrina to answer your question. I don't know but it seems reasonable. that we'd look back at the last couple. of month and say yes that was the. beginning of a third father so when you. said at the beginning of our. conversation Ren that this escalation is. result of the Decades long rise of the. extreme right this is what you meant the. people who have always said that they.

want to control all of the land are now. in power and willing to plunge the. country into more and more violence to. get it exactly and no one seems willing. or able to stop them well so there was a. letter from the head of the. shinb which was sent in the last few. weeks to Benjamin nanyu and other top. government. officials I let which I saw and was. later also reported in the Israeli.

media Sabrina this was one of the most. severe letters I've ever read coming. from the ranks of the intelligence. community in. Israel he wrote that the Jewish. terrorism that we are seeing in the West. Bank these days is quote a great stain. on Judaism and on all of. us that it will cause quote Global. delegitimization even among our best.

friends meaning our allies around the. world and also that this settler. violence poses a serious security threat. for all of Israel and that going in this. direction so the escalation of Jewish. terrorism will quote lead to much. Bloodshed and will change beyond. recognition the face of Israel as we. know and sacrifice for it over the. years so Netanyahu and other officials.

should understand how bad things. are how dire the situation is but will. anything change if the power lies in the. their alliance with people like benir. and. smotri probably. not and people in Israel so Israeli. citizens who didn't know who didn't want. to know what's happening over there. behind the fence are all.

shocked but if they would just look. behind the fence then nothing of all of. that should have been a. surprise so I think what we have learned. is almost the obvious but now it's so. clear that when you forgive for small. offenses of criminal activity of. violence and. looting and intimidating against.

Palestinians when you give full impunity. to more and more severe violence and. terrorism against. Palestinians you end with more violence. more. impunity and you end with people who. support or took part of it in the. Coalition the Lawless became the law and. I think that what Mark mazetti and naan. odenheimer and myself attempted to do in.

this report was to do something very. simple to put a mirror in front of a. reality that nobody wanted to look at. and I hope that when bringing some of. that knowledge when showing the world. but also the Israeli public what is. happening behind that fence the. impunity the total disregard of the law. if this is not stopped then the whole of.

the Israeli project is under great great. Jeopardy and it will sentence this. region to live on its sword for many. many many. years Bernan thank. you thank you Sabrina. [Music].

we'll be right. back here's what else you should know. today. in Lebanon on Tuesday hundreds of pagers.

belonging to members of Hezbollah. exploded simultaneously in a highly. coordinated attack that killed at least. 11 people and injured more than. 2800 three of the 11 people killed were. civilians two children and a first aid. worker hospitals were inundated with the. injured who had wounds on their faces. hands and stomachs. American and other officials said Israel. was responsible for the attack and had.

executed it by hiding small amounts of. explosive material in each pager before. the devices reached Lebanon on their way. from Taiwan where they were made. Hezbollah operatives have long used. pagers instead of phones to make it. harder for their messages to be. intercepted the practice became more. widespread after the October 7th attacks. when Hezbollah began firing into Israeli. territory in solidarity with its Ally.

Hamas today's episode was produced by. Ricky nety and Michael Simon Johnson it. was edited by Paige cowt with help from. Ben Calhoun fact checked by Susan Lee. contains original music by Alicia bitu. Dan Powell Diane Wong Maran Lozano and. Pat mccusker and was engineered by Chris. Wood special thanks to Mark mazetti. Natan odenheimer Luke Mitchell Yara.

bayomi Paula Schuman Maddie massiello. and Nick Pitman our theme music is by. Jim brunberg and Ben Lanser of. [Music]. wonderly that's it for the daily I'm. Sabrina Tavern see you tomorrow. [Music].