Al Jazeera exposes Israeli soldiers posing as settlers during attacks on Palestinians

For years, we've been told by the Israeli government and even U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee that Israeli settlers committing violence against Palestinians are just a handful of extremists in the occupied West Bank. And the government and the army, they're not responsible for their actions. But that's not true. An Al Jazeera investigation proves that Israeli soldiers are actually joining settler attacks in civilian clothes. To better understand how this is all happening, you've got to look at Hagmar, the Israeli army's regional defense units. So settlers are reservists where they live in the occupied West Bank and they get access to weapons, authority, training. Our investigation found that after 2023, Hagmar's role went from guarding settlements to actually supporting attacks on Palestinian villages. Case in point, March 7th this year, a group of settlers showed up on Palestinian land near Hebron. The settlers attacked and killed a Palestinian. A little while later, one of the settlers actually went back to the scene of the crime, wearing an Israeli military uniform. So the same men who just took part in the violence were now the officials tasked with mediating. Another example, Yitzhak Levi-Falun. He's a security coordinator at the Yitzhar settlement. who also goes by the name of Jacob. We have video footage of him attacking Palestinian farmers during their olive harvests. Then in the village of Tal, our team filmed him in military uniform, carrying a rifle and stopping a Palestinian from passing. The U.S. sanctioned him in 2024, but in 2025, President Trump scrapped the West Bank sanctions program and Volant was taken off the list. In the cases Al Jazeera's investigation looked at, 14 Palestinians were killed by settlers who had served in the army or were seen in military uniforms. For years, Palestinians have told human rights organizations and the U.S. government the Israeli military stands by and watches settler attacks unfold without stepping in to stop them and protects the settlers in the midst of all of this. But Al Jazeera's investigation shows how and why the soldiers tasked with implementing peace are the same people initiating the violence. It's like tasking a wolf to guard the chicken coop.