New Facts: Netanyahu Downplays Settler Violence in Interview

In a US TV interview, Benjamin Netanyahu said the West Bank settler violence is the work of a “handful of kids.” He put the group at about 70 teenagers from outside the West Bank, said they come from broken homes and do things like chopping olive trees and sometimes trying to burn a home. He called it vigilantism and said he is “taking that out.”

The Israel Defense Forces has recorded at least 752 incidents of politically motivated crime and settler violence in 2025, up from 675 in 2024. Netanyahu rejected any symmetry between those teens and what he called thousands of Palestinian terror attempts, and said Israel must keep military control of the territory while expanding infrastructure for both Israelis and Palestinians. Asked about friction with President Trump over the West Bank, he said they share goals and will keep talking.

AI-synthesized from multiple reported sources