ITV News Senior International Correspondent John Irvine reveals shocking evidence of the growing number of attacks by Israeli extremists against Palestinians in the Occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Warning: this report contains footage of these attacks, which some may find upsetting
When the residents of the West Bank village of Sinjil try to repel attacks by Jewish settlers, all they can do is put their bodies on the line.
That’s because, as Palestinians, they are not permitted to carry firearms, knives or even sticks. The settlers are, and many carry assault rifles.
And assault is what some do on the West Bank these days, on a regular basis.
The number of attacks by settlers has skyrocketed this year. US President Donald Trump may have forbidden Israel from formally annexing the West Bank, but in practice, it’s happening anyway.
The day we were in Sinjil, we joined a Palestinian patrol as it headed to the village’s northern perimeter.
Last Thursday, another video of a controversial shooting emerged. It appears to show two Palestinian men being summarily executed by Israeli soldiers shortly after they put their hands up and surrendered.
We could see a settler herding goats on Palestinian land that he and others have managed to seize for themselves. When he spotted us, he made a phone call. Our hosts said he was summoning armed colleagues. Time for us to go.
We retreated to one of the lookout posts where Sinjil’s men take turns doing sentry duty.
They are on alert around the clock, and after dark, they use powerful torches to scan the hillsides for marauding settlers.
When they come, there’s a rallying cry in the village, and dozens of Sinjil’s residents head out to confront the attackers. Confrontations often ensue.
In July, two men from Sinjil were killed during a skirmish. One was shot dead, the other beaten to death.
Itamar Ben-Gvir, the government minister with responsibility for the Israeli police, is himself a settler, sanctioned by the UK government for inciting violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.
Not all crimes by Jewish settlers are investigated.
And there are regular raids of Palestinian communities in the West Bank under the guise of counter-terrorism operations.
During one such raid in October, the IDF shot and killed 15-year-old Jad Jadallah.
There is a video of him writhing on the ground. We have seen an unedited clip lasting more than six and a half minutes.
Not until four and a half minutes have elapsed does an Israeli soldier kneel to examine the boy.
And yet the IDF told us the soldiers provided “initial medical treatment.” Jad died where he lay.
His mother has denied IDF claims that he was a terrorist who attacked them first.
Last Thursday, another video of a controversial shooting emerged. It shows two Palestinian men being summarily executed by Israeli soldiers shortly after they put their hands up and surrendered.
The increasing hostility towards Palestinians isn’t confined to the West Bank.
Two Sundays ago in East Jerusalem, the Israeli police mounted a raid on a theatre ten minutes before more than 70 Palestinian children were due to start a musical performance.
The officers burst in and shouted to all involved, including the 300 people in the audience, that they had five minutes to get out.
There’s a video of the children, still in costume, crying outside. The police sought to justify the raid, claiming the musical was improperly funded by the Palestinian Authority and was being performed without the necessary permit.
A flyer promoting the production says it was funded by international groups, including the British Council.
In Jerusalem’s Old City, we met Abbot Schnabel, who heads Dormition Abbey, one of Christianity’s most impressive places of worship.
The abbot features in videos in which he is spat at by an Israeli extremist and told to remove his cross.
He said that when clergy of different denominations gather either formally or informally these days, the small talk is always about instances of abuse, so commonplace have they become.
Fr. Schnabel told me that such things used to happen in the shadows or during the hours of darkness. But now the abuses occur in public and in broad daylight.
These are all examples of how Israeli extremists have been emboldened by the most right-wing government in this country’s history.
Gayil Talshir, a political lecturer at the Hebrew University, said that the majority of Israelis would reject such activities if they were aware of them.
But they’re unaware because it is happening in the places they don’t go to. Out of sight, out of mind.
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