Netanyahu: settler violence? "A group of kids"

In an interview with Fox News in the aftermath of his meeting with US President Donald Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu downplayed settler violence in the West Bank, stating that it would be 'a group of kids' who would 'do things like chop down trees and sometimes try to burn down a house', and then emphasised that he was committed to making 'a special effort' to stop this phenomenon.

According to several media reports, the White House expressed concern about Israeli policy in the West Bank, in particular settler violence and settlement expansion, and asked Netanyahu to change his line.

"It's very exaggerated, we are talking about a group of kids, about seventy, who are not from the West Bank," Netanyahu said in response to a question about the increasing settler violence that threatens stability, "these are teenagers who come from broken families and who do things like cut down olive trees and sometimes try to burn down a house. This is vigilantism. I cannot accept it'.

According to the latest figures released by the UN, more than 1,700 settler attacks have been documented since the beginning of 2025, causing casualties or material damage in more than 270 communities in the West Bank, with 'an average of five incidents per day'.

The Israeli premier then challenged "the false symmetry between these teenagers and more than a thousand attempted terrorist attacks against settlers: families, mothers driving on the roads with their children", emphasising: "I am making a special effort to stop this vigilantism".