Why Are Israeli Settler Attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank Called Pogroms?

Attacks on Palestinian communities in the occupied West Bank by Israeli settlers, often supported by Israeli forces, have surged over the past month since settlers from the Havat Gilad outpost raided Palestinian homes on the eastern edge of Tal, southwest of Nablus.

Over Sunday and Monday, Israeli troops raided towns, villages, and refugee camps across the occupied territory, with reports of arrests, house searches, and settler attacks continuing to multiply.

A 15-day siege of three families totaling 15 people, including two children, in the village of Qusra is still ongoing, drawing rare public condemnation from U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee this month, despite his staunch support for Israel and its West Bank settlements.

Israel is also advancing plans to build the E1 settlement near Jerusalem, which rights groups warn would bisect the West Bank, impede Palestinian movement, and threaten the viability of a Palestinian state.

These attacks increasingly match the definition of a pogrom, experts say, as UN Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territory Francesca Albanese described Israeli assaults on Palestinians in the West Bank as “pogroms against defenseless civilians.”

What Is Happening in the West Bank?

Settlers, often backed by Israeli troops, have attacked Palestinian homes, businesses, and fields across the West Bank. Such attacks have occurred for decades as settlements expanded, but they spiked after October 7, 2023, when Israel launched its military campaign in Gaza, and have become especially violent over the past month.

Israeli settlements in the West Bank violate international law. According to the Palestinian Commission against Settlements and the Wall, about 780,000 Israeli settlers now live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, in 192 settlements and 400 outposts, covering 71% of Area C and 91% of the Jordan Valley.

Settlers often establish informal outposts around Palestinian villages, from which they run harassment campaigns—killing livestock, cutting supplies, and damaging property—to force residents out. Once a settlement is set up, they typically receive retroactive approval from the Israeli government.

Recently, settlers have besieged the homes of individual families, as in the Ras al-Ein area of Qusra, cutting water and other supplies, wrecking orchards, and harming livestock. Settlers pitch tents next to homes, encircling residents, and when Israeli troops arrive, it is not to remove the settlers but to arrest or “protect” Palestinian families.

In Qusra, three besieged families have been crowded into one house, while Israeli forces took over another as a military post and threw out their belongings. The UN has recorded more than 1,330 settler attacks on Palestinians from January to late July this year, averaging six a day, the fastest pace since the agency began tracking two decades ago.

A UN-appointed commission of inquiry found that Israeli authorities have repeatedly failed to prevent settler attacks and in some cases directly facilitated them through military protection, weapons supply, and financing.

Defining a Pogrom

Major American and British dictionaries define “pogrom” differently. Britain’s Collins Dictionary calls it “organized, officially encouraged violence against a group of people for racial or religious reasons,” stressing the state-backed element. The Oxford Dictionary says it is “an organized massacre of a large number of people for racial or religious reasons.” Merriam-Webster calls it “an organized massacre of helpless people,” and Cambridge defines it as “organized cruel behavior or killing directed against a large group of people for racial or religious reasons.”

The term comes from Yiddish and originally described waves of organized violence against Jewish communities in the Russian Empire after the assassination of Tsar Alexander II in 1881. Notably, “pogrom” has no clear legal definition in international law, unlike terms such as “crimes against humanity” or “genocide.”

Can the West Bank Attacks Be Called Pogroms?

Beyond Albanese, Israeli officials have also described settler attacks as “pogroms.” On February 26, 2023, hundreds of Israeli settlers attacked Huwara and nearby communities after two settlers were killed. One Palestinian was killed, hundreds were wounded, and homes, businesses, and vehicles were torched. The then-Israeli military commander in the West Bank, Yehuda Fuchs, called it a “pogrom,” and the U.S. State Department also noted it as such.

The Israeli-Palestinian rights group B’Tselem has also described Israeli actions in the West Bank as “pogroms,” especially after the 2023 attack, with its report “The pogroms are working – transfer is underway.” Spokesman Yair Dvir said: “Settler violence is not a new phenomenon, but in the last three years it has become more violent, more systematic, and most importantly a part of the state machinery to ethnically cleanse large areas of the West Bank. The government funds and arms settlers, while the Israeli army stands by and in many cases actively participates. To date, these forces have expelled 64 Palestinian communities and control about one million dunams of land.”

The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention, named after lawyer Raphael Lemkin who coined “genocide,” called the attacks on the village of Al-Mughayyir a “pogrom,” as hundreds of armed settlers burned homes and cars while soldiers watched. Indian researcher Raheel Dhattiwala noted: “The West Bank attacks match the characteristics of a pogrom—systematic targeting of a civilian group by another group with state approval. One can debate terminology, but calling settler violence systematic attacks by the occupying forces, with government approval, against an occupied group is accurate.”