Yossi Schwartz, ISL (RCIT section in Israel/Occupied Palestine) 20.10.2026
Liberal Zionists like Yair Golan are willing to admit that behind the Jewish terrorists from the settlements is the Israeli government, and that it is in the interest of the state and the Zionist army to stop the rioters. Golan’s position and the position of his supporters focus on the following points:
Harm to national security and the army: Golan consistently says “that the actions of the Jewish rioters in Judea and Samaria are igniting the area, creating a heavy operational burden on the security forces, and directly endangering soldiers who are forced to deal with disturbances instead of focusing on defense missions.”
Calling the West Bank “Judea and Samaria” legitimizes the settlements.
According to him, a Zionist terrorist and a Palestinian fighter are on the same plane, and he says that Jewish terrorism must be fought with an “iron fist” and with the same means as those used against Palestinian terrorism. Among the measures he proposes are restoring the use of administrative detention for dangerous activists, evacuating illegal outposts, and providing full backing to the Shin Bet, the police, and the army for law enforcement.
According to him, there are legal settlements that must be protected, and he covers for the police and the Shin Bet.
Following what he claims were exceptional incidents, such as the attack on European diplomats in October 2026, Golan stressed that these events severely damage Israel’s international standing and portray it as a country in which the rule of law is not enforced. He accuses the Netanyahu-Smotrich government of allowing the phenomenon to intensify.
The problem with this position is that it covers up the crimes of the Zionist army, which is a partner in the actions of the Zionist terrorists, and the Zionist army is part of the state apparatus, just as the police and the Shin Bet, which also work with the rioters, do.
At least 678 Palestinians in the West Bank, including women and adolescents, were arrested by soldiers this year under dubious circumstances – and in most cases they were released without interrogation or legal intervention. Human rights organizations claim that this is a systematic means of intimidation, and the State Attorney’s Office admits that the soldiers sometimes deviated from the procedures – but claims that these were sharpened. Is this true?
According to Haaretz[i], in early August, soldiers arrested H. and D., two brothers in their 20s from a village northeast of Ramallah and held them for about seven hours. The official term for the soldiers’ action, which is enshrined in military legislation, is “delay,” but from the outset the legal basis for their action was shaky. The two brothers were on a farm belonging to their relatives when several settlers suddenly appeared and photographed them. Immediately after them, the soldiers appeared, arrested them, and drove them to a nearby military post.
Soldiers have the authority to detain a Palestinian at his place of residence if he is suspected of violating the security legislation in the West Bank (the legislation amended by the commander of the Central Command), or if he endangered the safety of another person. After a maximum detention period of three hours, the soldiers must transfer the Palestinian to police interrogation. An officer with the rank of lieutenant colonel may extend the detention for another three hours. Soldiers must also ensure detainees are held in reasonable and comfortable conditions and provide food and water. In addition, they must write a report and deliver it to the brigade’s operations room.
The two brothers were on the family’s private property when they were arrested. The orders for the detention were not followed: they did not hand them over to the police within three hours, or even after six hours. Haaretz and a foreign press correspondent sent queries to the army and police. A short hour after they were submitted, at around 22 p.m.:15, and about seven hours after the arrest, it was reported that they had been transferred to the Binyamin police for interrogation “for throwing stones and harming the security of the area.” The two rejected this claim outright, but the police announced they would remain in custody and be brought to a hearing to extend it by three days.
The next morning, a lawyer submitted an urgent request to the Ofer military court for their release and an early hearing, but the hearing did not take place; about 24 hours after their arrest, the police announced their unconditional release, an indirect admission that the detention had no basis. The army Spokesperson’s Operations Room told Haaretz that they had been arrested for throwing stones and harming the security of the area. They gave the answer three hours after their release.
These were not the only two delays or false arrests that day. The Human Rights Defenders Fund’s “hotline,” which was reported on the brothers H. and D., registered two other similar calls at the same time, south of the Hebron Hills. In one place, settlers in uniform, according to the reporters of the incident, arrested two Palestinians on their plot of land after Israeli civilians invaded it and reportedly pepper-sprayed and beat them. The two arrested men were taken to the Hebron police station, where they were interrogated “on suspicion of assault and conduct that may disturb the public peace,” a lawyer for the foundation was told.
These cases followed 272 similar inquiries registered on the Fund’s hotline since the beginning of 2026. Overall, as of 15 October, 368 incidents of such unlawful detentions by soldiers are listed – a list that recounts another aspect of the military routine that threatens Palestinians in the West Bank. In 296 of the arrests on the IFund’s hotline list this year, detainees were released without legal intervention on their behalf, that is, without counseling before interrogation or representation at a detention extension hearing. Soldiers usually arrest more than one person in a single incident, and this year they arrested a total of 678 Palestinians – 16 of them women – mostly on their grazing land, orchards, and even homes.
Israel is falling apart, and it is a good thing, as an apartheid state does not have the right to exist and the dialectical laws of history are taking care of it.
Endnotes:
[i] https://www.haaretz.co.il/news/magazine/2026-10-19/ty-article-magazine/.premium/000001a1-4e4f-d700-a7f5-ffdf0cd70000