West Bank Mosque Torched, Vandalized with Hate Speech Following Military Condemnation
A mosque in the West โBank village of al-Mughayyir was set ablaze and defaced with Hebrew graffiti early Friday morning, hours after condemnation from Israeli military leaders โฃregarding escalating settler violence. The attack, which included the torching of vehicles โand homes, represents a further surge in tensions and a direct challengeโค to efforts to de-escalate conflict in the region.
The โขincident occurred amid a backdrop of record-high settler violence in the West Bank. โฃOctoberโ marked the highest-ever number of recorded settler attacks since the U.N.Office for the Coordination of Humanitarianโฃ Affairs (OCHA)โข began tracking inโ 2006. palestinians assert the violence aims to displace them from their lands, with โOCHA reporting 3,535 Palestinians displaced by settler violence or โคaccess โคrestrictions as 2023-a significant increase from previous years.
According to local reports and eyewitness accounts, settlers entered al-Mughayyir overnight, settingโ fireโ to the mosque and several Palestinian homes and vehicles. โHebrewโ slogans and threats were spray-painted on the walls ofโฃ the โmosque and โsurrounding buildings. Israeliโค police have launched an investigation, butโฃ Palestinians and human rights groups express skepticism, citing a history of limited โaccountability for settler violence.
Theโ attack follows recent statements from senior Israeli military officialsโ condemning the increasing violenceโข perpetratedโฃ by settlers. Despite these condemnations, critics point to โขa โperceived lack of effective action to prevent attacksโข and hold perpetrators accountable. Approximately 94% of police investigation files into settler violence fromโ 2005 to 2024 ended without indictment, according โto monitoring by the Israeli human rightsโฃ group Yesh Din. Since 2005, โonly 3% of opened investigation files resultedโ in full or partial convictions.
The escalating violence isโฃ occurring as settlers, emboldened by the โฃcurrent right-wing Israeli โขgovernment, expand beyond existing settlementโข boundaries, establishing new โฃoutposts-often consisting of rudimentary structures-that encroach upon โPalestinian villages and their access to agricultural land and water resources. Key figures within the government, including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who formulates settlement policy, and Cabinet minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who oversees the nation’s police force, are proponents of theโ settler movement.
