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🇰🇷 South Korea /Conflict & Security

‘Hilltop Youth’ turns the West Bank into a lawless zone, giving Netanyahu a headache

From Dong-A Ilbo · () Korean

Translated from Korean and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News From a news agency Ongoing story
  • The Hilltop Youth, an extremist group of Israeli settler youths, is accused of escalating violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
  • The group rejects the possibility of a Palestinian state and claims the West Bank belongs to Israel on biblical grounds.
  • Its growing violence has prompted the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump to urge Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to respond firmly.

“The West Bank is land that God promised Israel.” That belief underpins the ideology of the Hilltop Youth, an extremist settler group that the Wall Street Journal reported is expanding its activities in the occupied West Bank.

The group argues that the possibility of establishing a Palestinian state must be completely blocked. Its members reject modern civilization, including smartphones, and live like nomads in remote areas of the West Bank.

They use the biblical Book of Numbers to support their claim that the West Bank is Israeli territory. They also use that argument to justify violence against Palestinians, including blocking residents outside their homes and spitting on them. The group has also been accused of climbing onto Palestinian vehicles and beating livestock to death.

The reported violence has intensified pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has urged him to take firm action against the group.

The West Bank is land that God promised Israel.

· Hilltop Youth membersThe statement expresses the group’s religious justification for claiming the West Bank.
About this summary

Originally published by Dong-A Ilbo in Korean. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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