Israeli Settler Violence - Settler Extremism

Settler Extremism

Many settlers desperately want to be regarded as part of the Israeli mainstream. As of September 2010, only a small minority among them is violent. The number of settlers involved in violent activities is estimated to have grown from a few dozen individuals into a few hundreds, out of a total population of about 500,000 Jewish settlers.

Extremist groups associated with the settler movement include Gush Emunim Underground that existed from 1979 to 1984 as a militant organization linked to the settler activist group Gush Emunim. They carried out attacks against Jewish students and Palestinian officials, attempted to bomb a bus and planned an attack on the Dome on the Rock.

The New York Times has noted that the religious, ideological wing of the settler movement is growing more radical. It is widely suspected that a pipe-bomb attack on settler critic Zeev Sternhell was perpetrated by settler radicals, who left fliers at the scene offering 1 million shekels to anyone who kills a member of anti-settlement group Peace Now. Public Security Minister Avi Dichter condemned the attack, calling it a "nationalistic terror attack".

Shin Bet security chief Yuval Diskin warned that he has "found a very high willingness among this public to use violence -- not just stones, but live weapons -- in order to prevent or halt a diplomatic process." He also called settlers' mindset "messianic" and "Satanic".

IDF Major-General Gadi Shamni has warned that there has been an increase in the number of violent settlers from a few dozen to hundreds and that the increase is impairing the IDF's ability to deal with other threat.

In August 2012, the United States defined settler attacks as 'terrorist incidents'.