Background: 

Amidst a sharp increase in settler violence in the West Bank since October 7, 2023, it is past time for decisive, public, and consistent action from the Israeli government and from allies committed to ending attacks that violate Palestinians' human rights and endanger the prospects for peaceful coexistence. 

In October 2025, settler violence reached an all-time high, with at least 264 attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank. Increasingly large groups of settlers have targeted Palestinian olive groves, businesses, and homes with horrific violence and, often, near total impunity. These assaults devastate families, destroy livelihoods, and desecrate the land itself.  

In early November, Israeli and American rabbis accompanying farmers in Qarawat Bani Hassan were attacked by a settler-operated drone. Footage soon emerged of masked settlers watching a factory and trucks burn; several suspects were detained, and IDF troops were later attacked by settlers nearby. 

The Reform Movement reaffirms its unwavering opposition to settler violence against Palestinians, which is immoral and a desecration of God's name. We echo Reform Rabbi and Knesset Member Gilad Kariv: “We will not be silent in the face of this outrage and will continue to speak out for the Jewish and democratic values upon which the relationship between Israel and the Jewish world is based.”  

Introduced by Representative Jerry Nadler (D-NY) and Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ), the West Bank Violence Prevention Act (H.R. 3045/S. 2667) would sanction individuals and entities responsible for settler violence—an essential step toward protecting human rights and preserving the possibility of a two-state solution. 

Tell Congress to pass the West Bank Violence Prevention Act! 

Jewish Values: 

The Hebrew word shalom (peace) appears more than 250 times in our sacred texts and in over 200 distinct verses. It shares a root with shalem, meaning “whole” or “perfect.” This teaches us that the pursuit of peace is the pursuit of a world made more whole, more just, and more perfect. 

Peace is invoked in our daily blessings—oseh shalom and shalom rav. It is woven through the words of our prophets and demanded by God in the covenantal vision for Israel. Isaiah 2:4 and Micah 4:3 envisioned a redeemed world in which warfare ends and all “shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks,” a time when “nation shall not lift up sword against nation, nor shall they know war anymore.” 

When settlers harass, attack, displace, and even kill Palestinians in the West Bank, they block the realization of that world to come—a world free of violence and sustained by compassion. 

For more information, visit ARZA.org, the URJ’s Israel page, or contact Eisendrath Legislative Assistant Daniel Block. 

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