Diaspora Jews call for an end to violence in the West Bank

An open letter to Israel's president Isaac Herzog calling for an end to Israeli settler violence against Palestinian civilians. More than a thousand signatories, members of the Jewish diaspora, addressed the Israeli head of state directly, condemning the abuses that have been going on for decades in the occupied West Bank territories. In his response to the letter, Herzog pledged his utmost commitment to put an end to the phenomenon.

The idea for the open letter was promoted by the London Initiative, a liberal Zionist organisation with the goal of strengthening Israeli democracy and relations between citizens of Israel and Jews around the world. "The terror, death and destruction inflicted by Israeli Jewish extremists on innocent Palestinian civilians in the West Bank is an abomination," states the letter, signed by more than a thousand Jews in the diaspora.

The letter openly criticises the Israeli government, judged to be complicit in this situation: 'Based on the events and the statements of the most extremist members of the coalition, it can be concluded that the violence that now envelops the West Bank is not only tolerated by the government but is, in fact, wanted'.

Hence the appeal to the president to interr0st what the London Initiative believes is a long-term mistake. "It is not only morally reprehensible, but also a strategic threat to Israel's future. It damages the Jewish community around the world and the relations of future generations with Israel,' the letter continues.

Already in August 2025, thousands of members of the Jewish diaspora from all over the world had addressed a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu demanding, among other things, an end to the violence in the West Bank. Since then, as the Times of Israel reports, the situation has only worsened.