Israel Must Choose Between Itself and Its West Bank Settlements - Haaretz Editorial

Israel Must Choose Between Itself and Its West Bank Settlements - Haaretz Editorial
Haaretz Editorial
Israel Must Choose Between Itself and Its West Bank Settlements



Haaretz Cartoon, August 27, 2026 Credit: Amos Biderman

Haaretz Editorial
FollowAugust 27, 2026



Our sovereign thug, MK Tzvi Succot, entered the Palestinian village of Madama with a military escort on Monday and smashed a memorial to residents of the village, some of whom were killed while committing terror attacks. Succot arrived with his aides, members of the Knesset Guard and soldiers as part of what he called a "tour of memorials." Indeed, every action by Jewish thugs has a plethora of names to whitewash it.

It's been a long time since we've heard such a spate of condemnations here, from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who condemned "taking the law into one's own hands" (Justice Minister Yariv Levin, who calls for ignoring Supreme Court rulings, should take note), to members of Succot's own party.

The Israel Defense Forces Spokesperson's Unit didn't hesitate to use harsh language and accuse Succot and his aides of having "acted in a lying, manipulative manner, with no authority and in complete defiance of the approved route" for the tour. It also noted that soldiers were diverted from operational missions to guard his tour and were "unnecessarily put into danger at a time when the IDF is already heavily burdened with missions."

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But this diversion of troops for Succot's needs should be viewed in a broader context. MK Gilad Kariv (Democrats) said that repeated requests by him and his colleagues to tour the West Bank village of Qusra, which recently came under attack by settlers, were rejected on the grounds that the army couldn't spare the soldiers to guard them.

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"It turns out that there are enough soldiers to escort a pyromaniac into the heart of a Palestinian village," he wrote. Yet hours after the IDF guarded Succot in Madama, soldiers tried to prevent MK Ofer Cassif (Hadash) from visiting Palestinian families in Qusra.

Cassif with his hands clasped behind his back in Qusra, Tuesday. Credit: Used in accordance with Section 27A of the Copyright Law

Nor does the problem end with this selective diversion of troops based on political affiliation. Rather, this exemplifies the national order of priorities: The settlements and their needs take precedence over everything else.

No matter how hard their supporters try to brainwash the public and convince it that the settlements contribute to security, the truth is that the insistence on spreading settlements, outposts and farms throughout the West Bank requires the army to deploy more and more troops to protect them, guard the roads they use and deal with the friction and violence they create.

The price of this national order of priorities became clear on October 7, 2023. On the eve of the war that erupted that day, the IDF had around 20 battalions in the West Bank, but far fewer along the border of the Gaza Strip and only four to five battalions in the north. Yet no lessons have been learned.

Today, some 25 battalions are deployed in the West Bank, more than are deployed on active fronts like southern Lebanon and Gaza. And this also has a price in terms of the burden on reservists (see Amos Harel's columns).

The reason the lesson hasn't been learned is political. Israel doesn't need the settlements, but it wants them, despite their heavy economic and security cost. To change this order of priorities, we need a substantive political change. Israelis must decide between the State of Israel and the settlements.


The above article is Haaretz's lead editorial, as published in the Hebrew and English newspapers in Israel.