Hilltop Youth: A group intent on taking over the West Bank by violence

What the report says

Al Jazeera reports that the “Hilltop Youth,” a radical religious Zionist settler group, has become a major force in the occupied West Bank, where it is accused of helping drive violence against Palestinians and expanding Israeli outposts on Palestinian land. The article says the group is mainly made up of young Israeli settlers and traces its origins to 1998, when then-foreign minister Ariel Sharon urged settler youths to move onto West Bank hilltops ahead of final-status negotiations with the Palestinians.

According to the report, the movement grew over time from a fringe network into a more influential part of Israeli politics and settlement activity. Al Jazeera says the group has benefited from supportive policies, legal leniency and government assistance across multiple years, including under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet and the current government that took office in December 2022. It also notes that the number of settler attacks in the West Bank has risen sharply, citing United Nations figures of more than 1,330 attacks in the first half of 2026.

The article describes tactics attributed to the group and its supporters, including vandalism, arson and assaults, as well as social media promotion of attacks and fundraising. It also says some members and allies have appeared in mainstream Israeli media and that several current ministers and lawmakers have ties to settlement politics. The piece argues this matters because it reflects the growing mainstream acceptance of an ideology that advances settlement expansion and deepens insecurity for Palestinians in the occupied territory.