Hilltop Youth

Hilltop Youth
נוער הגבעות
Leader	Meir Ettinger
Dates of operation	1990s–present
Ideology	Kahanism Religious Zionism Anti-Palestinianism
Major actions	Duma arson attack
Status	Active

Hilltop Youth (Hebrew: נוער הגבעות, No'ar HaGva'ot) are extremist Religious Zionist settler youth operating in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. They are known for establishing outposts without an Israeli legal basis and conducting settler violence against Palestinians there.^[1][2][3]

Overview

The movement is based on the ideology of Kahanism, which advocates for the expulsion of Palestinian Arabs from both Israel and the occupied territories. It started in 1998 to head to a call by then-Israeli Defense Minister Ariel Sharon who told settler youth to "grab the hilltops" of the West Bank. Members linked to the group have engaged in Israeli settler violence against Palestinians, as well as against Israeli soldiers.^[4]

Hilltop Youth attack an elementary school in Mu'arrajat, near Jericho in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, 2024

The acts of settler violence includes vandalism of Palestinian schools and mosques, stealing sheep from Palestinian flocks and the destruction of their centuries-old olive groves, or stealing their olive harvests.^[1] In the most notable attack, members of the groups perpetrated the 2015 Duma arson attack against a Palestinian family, burning their 18-month-old baby alive and injuring the parents.^[5] Though the group has no strict hierarchy Israeli authorities believe Meir Ettinger to be its leader.

In 2024, following rising settler attacks, the European Union put Hilltop Youth as well as the related Lehava groups on its asset freeze and visa bans, declaring them to be extremist organizations.^[6]

Origins

On 16 November 1998, in what was viewed as a declaration intended to thwart peace talks, and in particular the implementation of his political rival Benjamin Netanyahu's Wye River agreement with the Palestinian National Authority,^[7] the then-Israeli Defense Minister Ariel Sharon urged settler youth to "grab the hilltops", adding,

"Everyone that's there should move, should run, should grab more hills, expand the territory. Everything that's grabbed will be in our hands. Everything we don't grab will be in their hands."^[8][9]

People proceeded to heed his exhortation and outposts proliferated, in a practice often called "creating facts on the ground",^[10] but many would later feel betrayed by Sharon when the Israeli West Bank barrier he devised in 2005 cut off many of the illegal communities from the expanded Israel Sharon envisaged at that time.^[7]

The example of figures like Netanel Ozeri, who moved his family out of the safety of Kiryat Arba's perimeters to build an outpost, Hilltop 26, on nearby Palestinian land, was also important: Ozeri was later shot dead by Palestinian gunmen.^[9][11]

Influences

According to terrorism expert Ami Pedahzur, ideologically, Hilltop Youth espouse a Kahanist worldview, favouring "deportation, revenge, and annihilation of Gentiles that posed a threat to the people of Israel".^[12]

The youth are influenced by religious Zionist ideals, which include a dedication to building and farming the land, as well as devoting time to learning Torah.^[13] Many have studied in the Od Yosef Chai yeshiva under Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh,^[14] who developed the metaphor comparing Israel to a "nut" which had to be cracked in order to allow the fruit, the people, out.^[14][1] In addition to basing their ideals on the teachings of prominent rabbis such as Avraham Yitzchak Kook and Rabbi Shmuel Tal,^[14] some regard Avri Ran as a spiritual leader, or "father", of the movement,^[1][15] though he does not see himself as such. The philosophy of some in the movement is expressed by a mixture of distrust of the Israeli government and a desire to re-establish the Ancient Kingdom of Israel.^[16]

About the groups

Hilltop youth harassing Palestinian shepherd near Beka'ot

The Hilltop Youth are a "loosely organized, anarchy-minded group", of some several hundred youths around a hard core of scores of violent activists often noted for establishing illegal/disputed outposts outside existing settlements.^[14][17] According to Danny Rubinstein they are formed into private militias.^[18] Their numbers (2009) are estimated to be around 800, with approximately 5,000 others who share their ideological outlook.^[1] They completely dissociate themselves from Israeli institutions, and identify themselves with the Land of Israel.^[14] They settle on hilltops in areas densely crowded by Palestinians.^[1]

Wounded sheperd from hilltop youth attack

Members linked to the group have been accused of engaging in Israeli settler violence, including vandalism of Palestinian schools^[19] and mosques,^[20] stealing sheep from Palestinian flocks and the destruction of their centuries-old olive groves, or stealing their olive harvests.^[1][21][22] This last practice was endorsed by Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu on a visit to a hilltop outpost, Havat Gilad, where he issued a rabbinical ruling that, "The ground on which the trees are planted is the inheritance of the Jewish people, and the fruit of the plantings was seeded by the goyim in land that is not theirs."^[23] They seize land not by any official method: they claim a hilltop by setting up an encampment, and then claim the land nearby, whether under Palestinian cultivation or not, or by uprooting Palestinian trees and shooting in the air if any Palestinian comes near to the new outpost.^[24]

Hilltop youth Dispersing a palestinian herd by using ATV, Jordan Valley, 2024

Settlers have long been accused of carrying out what are called "price tag attacks", a term used for targeting Palestinian property in revenge for outposts demolished by the Israeli military, although no one as yet has actually been convicted of having been involved in such vandalism.^[14][25]

Many of the Hilltop Youth feel that the mainstream settler movement has lost its way, opting for cheap housing close to major cities, built by local Arab labor, with tall fences and no space between their homes. The Youth often engage in organic farming^[26] and shun Palestinian labor in favor of Hebrew labor. 2.5% of eggs consumed in Israel are calculated to be produced on the outposts run by the Hilltop Youth leader Avri Ran.^[27][28]

Government response

The Hilltop Youth has been condemned in the past by figures within Israel's government, with Former Defense Minister Ehud Barak referring to the group as unacceptable "homemade terror, Jewish-made terror".^[25]

A threatening presence of hilltop youth in Wadi Auja aiming to discourage Palestinian herds from approaching the water source

The Israeli Security Agency's leader, Ronen Bar, in a August 2024 to Israeli ministers, wrote: ""The 'hilltop youth' trend has long become a bed of violent activity against Palestinians … it's the use of violence to create intimidation", to "fear monger, meaning terrorism."^[29][30] Such acts were now "broad, open activity", wrote Bar, now "using weapons of war. Sometimes using weapons that were distributed by the state lawfully … attacking the security forces … receiving legitimacy from certain officials in the establishment".^[29] As a result, the hilltop youth experienced "loss of fear of administrative detention due to the conditions they get in prison and the money given to them upon their release by MKs, together with legitimization and praise".^[30]

Notable members

Main article: Meir Ettinger

Meir Ettinger (born 4 October 1991), the grandson of Meir Kahane, previously resided at Ramat Migron outpost, and later the Givat Ronen outpost near Har Brakha, was subsequently deported, by administrative order, from the West Bank and Jerusalem, taking up residence with his family in Safed. He has attracted many followers and in addition to public speaking, he has published a blog at the pro-Hilltop Youth website "The Jewish Voice" (Hebrew: הקול היהודי). He was arrested for the "spy affair", when settler youths were accused of maintaining an "operation room" to monitor IDF movements and warn outpost settlers of impending evacuations. After violating his house arrest terms, he was held in jail until the end of his trial, in which he was convicted following a plea-bargain for conspiring to gather military intelligence and sentenced to time served, approximately 6 months.^[31][32] In August 2015, following the arson at the Church of the Multiplication in June and the Duma arson attack,^[33] he was placed under administrative arrest for 6 months, which was extended by an additional 4 months.^[34] During his incarceration, he staged a hunger strike. In June 2016, following his release, he returned to reside in Safed, and is barred by administrative order from entering the West Bank, Jerusalem, and Yad Binyamin. In addition, he is forbidden, by administrative order, from contacting 92 people.^[35]

Sanctions

In 2024, responding to rising Israeli settler attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank, the European Union put Hilltop Youth as well as related Lehava groups on its asset freeze and visa bans, declaring them to be extremist organizations.^[6]

See also

• Israeli outpost
• Price tag policy
• Nachala (organisation)

References

1. Daniel Byman, A High Price: The Triumphs and Failures of Israeli Counterterrorism, Oxford University Press, 2011 pp.291f.
2. Erica Chernofsky (18 August 2009). "Hilltop Youth push to settle West Bank". BBC. Retrieved 11 January 2012.
3. 'Ex-Shin Bet chief: Government does not want to deal with Jewish terror,' Ynet 8 August 2015.
4. "Israeli minor gets 3 1/2 years for role in deadly 2015 arson". AP News. 16 September 2020.
5. "Thou Shalt Not Kill: Israel's Hilltop Youth". Al Jazeera.
6. Beaumont, Peter (19 April 2024). "US and EU sanctions against Israeli extremists mark pivotal step against far right". The Guardian.
7. Isabel KershnerBarrier: The Seam of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, Macmillan, 2014 pp.184-185.
8. Adam T. Smith, The Political Landscape: Constellations of Authority in Early Complex Polities, University of California Press, 2003 p.6
9. Anton La Guardia, 'NS Profile - The Israeli Settlements,' New Statesman 26 May 2003
10. Deborah Campbell This Heated Place: Encounters in the Promised Land, D & M Publishers, 2009 p.89.
11. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/israel/etc/script.html Israel's Next War Frontline, Produced and Directed by Dan Setton PBS 2005.
12. Ami Pedahzur, The Triumph of Israel's Radical Right, Oxford University Press, 2012 pp.135-137.
13. Byman, Daniel; Sachs, Nathan (18 August 2012). "The Rise of Settler Terrorism". Foreign Affairs. Retrieved 20 July 2021.
14. Gershuni, Hillel 'A Jewish ISIS Rises in the West Bank,' Tablet 11 January 2016
15. Chaim Levinson, Israeli 'hilltop youth' accuse their former hero of stealing settlers' land, at Haaretz, 31 January 2013.
16. Ben Caspit, 'Who are Israel's Hilltop Youth?,' Al-Monitor 15 December 2015.
17. Laura King (13 July 2004). "Audit says Israel funded settlements". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 11 January 2012.
18. Danny Rubinstein, 'Le tribù d'Israele non si parlano,' in Lucio Caracciolo (ed.), La Questione Israeliana, Limes 11 June 2021 ppè.47-52 p.50
19. Tovah Lazroff (21 October 2010). "Palestinians blame 'hilltop youth' for school arson". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 11 January 2012.
20. Chaim Levinson (14 December 2011). "Israel Police scrambles to stop mosque arsonists from striking again". Haaretz. Retrieved 11 January 2012.
21. Lila Perl, Theocracy, Marshall Cavendish 2007 p.128.
22. Daniel Gavron,The Other Side of Despair, Rowman & Littlefield 2004 p.194.
23. Uri Ben-Eliezer, Old Conflict, New War: Israel’s Politics Toward the Palestinians, Palgrave Macmillan, 2012 p.189.
24. Samantha M. Shapiro, 'The Unsettlers,' New York Times, 14 February 2003.
25. Lourdes Garcia-Navarro (9 January 2012). "Israel Cracks Down on Radical 'Hilltop Youth'". NPR. Retrieved 11 January 2012.
26. 'Israel’s Religious Right and the Question of Settlements,' Archived 2011-09-04 at the Wayback Machine International Crisis Group Middle East Report N°89 – 20 July 2009 pp.8-9.'Many hilltop youth farm organically, and maintain autonomous self-defence groups.(p.9).
27. Dafna Arad (24 April 2012). "Farming in the West Bank: Organic paradise, thorny reality". Haaretz. Retrieved 7 November 2013.
28. Tamara Traubmann, It’s organic, but where was it grown Haaretz 2 August 2007
29. Lis, Jonathan (22 August 2024). "Shin Bet Chief Warns PM and Ministers: Jewish Terror Is Jeopardizing Israel's Existence". Haaretz. Retrieved 13 September 2024.
30. "Shin Bet chief warns Netanyahu, ministers that Jewish terror endangering Israel". The Times of Israel. 22 August 2024. Retrieved 13 September 2024.
31. 3 Months imprisonment for accused in "spy affair", Arutz7, June 2013
32. Plea Bargain and Light Sentences for Right Wing Activists who Tracked IDF Forces, Ha'aretz, December 2012
33. Elisha Ben Kimon, 'Amiram Ben-Uliel: The handyman accused of Duma murders,' Ynet 3 January 2016.
34. Oded Shalom and Elior Levy, 'West Bank inches closer to boiling point,' Ynet 8 August 2014.
35. Jewish extremist freed after 10 months behind bars, Times Of Israel, June 2016

External link

• About Nati Ozeri
• Interview with Avri Ran Archived 10 May 2006 at the Wayback Machine