As extremist settler violence rears its ugly head yet again this past week in the Palestinian village Kusra and south of Hebron, Defense Minister Israel Katz has proposed shifting responsibility for enforcing law and order among Israeli residents in the West Bank from the IDF to the Israel Police.
The proposal has already drawn criticism from military sources and praise from National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who called it a crucial step toward asserting Israel’s sovereignty over the West Bank.
The move is contentious, its implementation remains uncertain, and it may never come to fruition.
But some of Katz’s rationale is understandable. One thing, at least, is beyond dispute: He is right that the IDF has not done enough.
By all accounts, the IDF is failing to control the extremist violence unfolding in Palestinian villages. Citizens have taken the law into their own hands, attacking Palestinians, vandalizing property, blocking roads, and creating barriers that have practically besieged locals in their homes.
The military has been accused of lackluster enforcement of order, with some soldiers at the scene reportedly recorded chumming up to settlers rather than intervening to stop them.
There is no excuse for this.
All residents deserve equal protection under the law
The IDF must enforce the law and protect local Palestinians from Israeli extremists, just as it is obligated to protect Israeli settlements from Palestinian terrorism.
But violence perpetrated by extremist settlers in the West Bank is not just a policing issue - nor is it merely an issue of domestic crime that police can address.
In fact, it is one of the issues that can drive even the staunchest supporters of Israel against it – even US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee referred to extremist settlers as “Israeli terrorists” in its condemnation of recent attacks on Kusra.
Those comments underline what should be obvious: Settler violence is a national security threat to the State of Israel. It can directly affect Israel’s security, undermine IDF operations, inflame Palestinian violence, damage Israel’s strategic position, and further erode relations with its closest allies.
There is also a practical danger in Katz’s proposal.
The division between military security and civilian law enforcement
Creating a clearer division between military security and civilian law enforcement may sound sensible on paper, but the reality in the West Bank is not so clear-cut.
Areas A, B, and C in the West Bank have different arrangements for civilian administration and security. Under the Oslo framework, the Palestinian Authority has security responsibility in Area A, while Israel retains overriding security responsibility in Area B and full security control in Area C.
In practice, however, the IDF continues to conduct security operations across the West Bank, including in Area A.
This means that, in the West Bank, the distinction between security incidents and criminal acts is often blurred. If a Palestinian terrorist attacks Israelis at a bus stop outside a settlement, it would rightly be treated as a security incident. Why should it be treated differently when extremist settlers attack Palestinians?
Katz’s decision can also carry implications for how Israel’s control of the West Bank is understood legally.
In 2024, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued an advisory opinion on the legal consequences of Israel’s “occupation” of the West Bank. In its opinion, the court argued that Israel’s policies and practices in the West Bank “amount to the annexation of large parts of the occupied Palestinian territory.”
Katz’s move to transfer civilian enforcement to police risks reinforcing the perception of an expanding Israeli civilian presence and authority in the West Bank, strengthening the ICJ’s argument – and further harming Israel’s legal standing.
Whether the West Bank is truly annexed by Israel or not, the law there must apply equally – and security responsibility must remain where it belongs.
Katz should reverse course, keep the IDF accountable for maintaining order in the West Bank, and demand that the military do what it is supposed to do: protect Israelis, protect Palestinians, and prevent extremists on either side from turning the territory into a tinderbox.
Settler violence is not a problem that can be swept under the rug. It is a national security problem. The IDF, the defense minister, and the Israeli government need to treat it as such.