Last week, just days after Israeli forces killed three men while intervening to protect settlers violently storming the Palestinian village of Kafr Malik in the occupied West Bank, an unusual wave of condemnation swept through Israeli politics and media.
But the outrage was not directed at the killing of Palestinians. It came only after settlers turned on Israeli soldiers.
On Friday night, settlers, commonly referred to in Israel as the “Hilltop Youth”, attacked soldiers stationed at an outpost near Kafr Malik, northeast of Ramallah. The following day, the same group stormed a nearby military base.
For a military long accustomed to escorting settlers during raids on Palestinian communities, the aggression from their usual allies was both unexpected and unsettling.
The term “Hilltop Youth” may no longer accurately describe this group. Their structure, tactics, and growing confidence suggest they now function more as a paramilitary organisation than as an informal collection of radicalised young settlers.
Read more: The rise of paramilitary settler groups in Israel’s West Bank strategy
