'Hilltop Youth': Israeli model of settler ideology rooted in violence, terror against Palestinians

By Khaled Yousef

ISTANBUL (AA) - On the first anniversary of Israel’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip on Oct. 7, the US administration imposed sanctions on the radical Israeli activist group “Hilltop Youth” for rampaging through Palestinian communities in the occupied West Bank and carrying out killings and mass arson.

Israeli news portal The Times of Israel, however, played down the US sanctions, arguing that the radical group was not a formal organization.

Similar sanctions were imposed by the EU, the UK and Australia on the Israeli group earlier this year.

A statement by the US Treasury Department designated the Hilltop Youth as a violent extremist group that has rampaged through Palestinian communities in the West Bank.

"It has carried out killings, mass arson, and other so-called “price tag” attacks to exact revenge and intimidate Palestinian civilians," the statement said.

The extremist group was involved in an attack on Palestinians in al-Mugharryir village in the West Bank on April 12 that left one person dead and several homes and cars in flames.

In June last year, the Hilltop Youth radicals carried out an attack on the Palestinian village of Turmusaya during which one person was killed and several people were injured.

- Hilltop Youth structure

Members of the radical group are settlers who live in settlement outposts across the occupied West Bank and reject to vacate them.

As per Israeli estimates, more than 720,000 illegal settlers live in settlements across the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem. The Israeli settlements are considered illegal under international law.

The Hilltop Youth members regularly carry out attacks against Palestinians and their properties. They are believed to be behind the notorious "price tag" attacks against Palestinian villages in recent years in retaliation for perceived efforts to hamper settlement construction.

The group was mainly established in 1998 and its members are aged between 16 and 26 who left their schools and education to live in settlement outposts they have erected on the hilltops near Palestinian villages.

In an interview conducted by Israeli Channel 14 with a female member in 2021, she said she is following her parents who were part of establishing the Rehelim settlement in 1991; a settlement built on

Palestinian lands near Nablus city in the northern West Bank.

The girl said her Hilltop Youth group is an extension to the Gush Emunim movement; a radical Zionist group founded in 1974 and is committed to building Jewish-only settlements in Palestinian lands.

According to the channel, Hilltop Youth members believe in the idea of using violence against Palestinians to kick them out of their lands and in "Greater Israel" that extends over neighboring countries, including Jordan and Syria.

- Ties with Israeli government

When the Likud Party was in power in Israel in 1977, the Gush Emunim presented a project to the government for establishing 12 settlements in the occupied West Bank.

The Israeli government at that time approved the project and established the settlement in a year and a half, according to the Palestinian Information Center.

In 1978, the radical group also presented another project to establish a network of settlements that could ensure Israel's sovereignty over large areas of the occupied territory.

Currently, the Hilltop Youth gangs carry out assaults and attacks against Palestinians and their properties under the full sight of the Israeli army and police.

On Jan. 23, 2023, the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth said the Hilltop Youth members took part, along with the Israeli army, in thwarting smuggling attempts from Jordan.

In response to the US sanctions on the extremist group, several Israeli ministers, including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, came out to vehemently defend the settler group.

- Extremist settlers

The Hilltop Youth group depends on Israeli settlers who hold radical extremist ideologies that believe in seizing Palestinian land and properties.

Those fanatic settlers do not believe in peace with Palestinians, and are backed by several Israeli political parties, including the Religious Zionism Party of Finance Minister Smotrich.

The group managed to build some 170 settlement outposts across the occupied West Bank under the watch of consecutive Israeli governments.

In April 2000, Israeli Channel 7 called the Hilltop Youth group part of the Religious Zionism Party, urging the Israeli governments to support them in their acts against the Palestinians in the West Bank.

- Gaza genocide

The Hilltop Youth backs Israel’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip that has been taking place since Oct. 7 last year.

The radical group believes in killing Palestinians, citing alleged Biblical texts on killing non-Jews, including women, children and the elderly.

Nearly 44,000 people have been killed, mostly women and children, and over 104,000 others injured in the Israeli war on Gaza since a Hamas attack last year.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its actions in Gaza.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar