Anyone watched the Louis Theroux documentary

[Ninerina]

I knew that things were bad for the Palestinians but after watching the documentary I'm so disgusted by the 'settlers' the government of Israel and especially Daniella Weiss.
Palestinians are referred to as savages and camel riders by a rabbi!
Will we get a chorus of how Louis Theroux is anti- semitic now? The usual battle cry of the Israel supporters

Just because it was only released on iPlayer a few days ago doesn't necessarily mean the author didn't watch it.

Sometimes they're given it in advance to watch so they can write a review

But there isn't a single reference to anything that happened in the documentary in the article. All the author does is attack the premise of the documentary - his objection is why LT made a documentary on settlers and not other forms of extremism that he thinks he should have made it on so I really don't think he has watched it.

Have you read the whole article?

Just checking as PP said she's only quoted part of it

I couldn't read it cos you had to subscribe

He doesn't mention anywhere that the article is his review of the documentary.

Oh well I guess it's not supposed to be a review then

Nobody wants to say they support a genocide. Denying one is occurring is the easiest choice. It's quite disturbing.

I want to watch this, but not looking forward to it. I'm Jewish and every time I hear settlers talking I just want to punch them in the face. Awful people, totally enabled by the government and IDF.

I heard first hand from a Rabbi who works with Palestinians on the West Bank how the army etc settlers borrow uniforms and weapons to intimidate Palestinians. Also a Jewish friend was there recently and local settlers harassed and threatened them for being there and for having women with them who wear kippot (skullcaps) in the group.

I definitely think that's what a lot of people are doing, denial saves them having to face up to what they support.

Journalists often review programmes before they air on TV - they get early access to it.

You can read the whole article for free just by giving your email address- can then unsubscribe immediately if you start getting adverts.

I feel the same way about the 'resistance - by any means possible' crowd.

I also think that if you have to change the definition of genocide to be able to label something genocide then perhaps it's more likely to be a horrific war than a targeted attempt to annihilate an ethnic group.

Usually a couple of weeks before to write reviews and previews, not months.
However if Jonathan had access , surely you would expect more references to the contents of documentary in the article. Instead the whole article is an exercise in deflection pointing fingers at Iran, Hamas, what the Yemenis wear etc.

Completely agree. Those people were nothing short of reprehensible. Aside from their views of Palestinian people, several families are bringing their children up in squalor, unnecessarily. Why would you do that?

Yes don't really want to subscribe just to read an article though

To be honest I am not a big fan of Israels recent actions so did some research into the history of the country etc and after that I certainly didn't change my mind BUT then I saw this documentary and I was absolutely horrified.
I have worked with Israelis on joint projects a few years ago and I heard some pretty shocking opinions and these were from educated professionals, in fact my boss warned me to brace myself before dealing with them as I might hear some things I didn't like but needed to stay professional.
After all of this and watching LT I am convinced that for a large part of the Israeli population (unfortunately including those in power) nothing short of wiping out Palestine will be enough.
I am not defending Hammas here, they are absolute scumbags and they did cause the current escalation but what Israel are doing now is unconsciable

No but they’re not the majority, either. There is hope. There are many peaceniks. Netenyahu won’t always be in power. Not that it feels like it after watching that. That woman was unhinged. I feel a bit polluted after seeing so much of her.

I love Louis but I wish he would do a whole series on the conflict. There are so many good stories and interesting people, on both sides. Amazing people who apply themselves to peace projects despite their experiences.

That's personal choice, I was interested to read the article after someone else posted it in response to me saying I haven't heard anyone saying LT is anti semitic for making that documentary.

He shines a spotlight on many groups of people he sees as crazy - in this case the Israeli Settlers but other groups have been criticised in the past like Fundamentalist Christians.

That doesn't mean he thinks all Christians are crazy or all Jewish people are like the Settlers.

Because they’re extremists. Extremists are always extreme.

I have worked with Israelis on joint projects a few years ago and I heard some pretty shocking opinions and these were from educated professionals, in fact my boss warned me to brace myself before dealing with them as I might hear some things I didn't like but needed to stay professional.

seriously? Are you saying you can extrapolate the views of 9 000 000 Israelis by your interaction with some co-workers? I understand it can influence your views but......
I should mention that I've heard exactly the opposite wrt Israel from several co-workers, should I assume they represent a majority view?

Sharing my experience, not extrapolating anything

I have always had a pretty neutral view of the conflict with the opinion that they are probably all as bad as eachother but in more recent years when I started to really pay attention my view has changed.

The documentary was very well done, as LTs documentation generally are. The article is a bit ranty but it raises an interesting point. Has LT ever done a documentary about Islamists? It’s always interesting to consider the evidence in front of us but also what are we not seeing, and why?

Louis Theroux’s settler documentary shows only half the story
I was raised on a Jewish settlement. We were not taught to hate our Palestinian neighbours

In his latest <a class="break-all" href="https://archive.ph/o/ZIEXG/www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/0/louis-theroux-the-settlers-bbc-two-review/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">documentary, The Settlers, Louis Theroux meets Ari Abramowitz, an Israeli settler living in the West Bank.
Wide-eyed Theroux asks Abramowitz if he’s holding a gun “for effect”. “No”, Ari responds. “I wear it for protection.”
Israeli settlements, to clarify, are Jewish villages (mainly in the West Bank) that were set up beyond Israel’s internationally recognised borders following the Arab-Israeli war in 1967.
I was born and raised in one such village not far from where Abramowitz lives, called Kfar Adumim.
I lived with constant fear throughout my childhood, frightened that a terrorist might emerge from the valley below our home and slaughter my family in our sleep.

That fear was not a product of my imagination. When I was a teenager, Hagit, a 23-year-old woman from my village, was swimming in a natural pool in the nearby valley with her friend when the pair were stabbed to death by a Palestinian attacker.
Thousands of Israeli civilians like Hagit have lost their lives to similar attacks over the years: some blown up in buses, others shot and rammed by cars.
My mother — the daughter of a Jewish refugee family from Baghdad — always slept with a pistol under her pillow. It was not an act of bravado but a matter of keeping us safe. I wonder whether Theroux would think my mother did it just “for effect” too.
Journalists have a duty to gather evidence and share knowledge responsibly when the public relies on their reporting. But The Settlers fails on all counts. Let me explain why.
Firstly, Theroux says that violence committed by settlers is often framed by them as a reaction to Palestinian violence, which he claims is “much less frequent” than the former.

But this is false. Palestinian attacks against Israelis are far more common than the inverse.

According to data from the Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security agency, in 2024 alone, Palestinians carried out 6,828 attacks against Israelis – twice that of the previous year (excluding the <a class="break-all" href="https://archive.ph/o/ZIEXG/www.telegraph.co.uk/israel-hamas-war/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">October 7 massacre). In contrast, there were 673 attacks against Palestinians committed by Israelis in 2024, according to Israeli Defence Force (IDF) statistics.
If you adjust these numbers relative to the population size, it means that last year Palestinians committed between around two and three times more attacks than Israelis (depending on which population estimate is used). Hardly “much less frequent”.
Then there’s the problem of who Theroux chooses to interview. The only Israeli settlers we meet are the most ideological, many of which are militant, foreign-born outsiders. The Palestinians Theroux interviews however are the opposite: like Issa Amro, a moderate non-violent Palestinian activist from Hebron.

This characterisation of Jewish settlers didn’t resonate with my experience. Like many of my friends, my mother made it clear I had to be respectful of our Palestinians neighbours. “Respectful and prudent” she would repeat. Nowhere in my education nor in our community we were taught to disrespect, let alone harass, Palestinians. Even today, a vast majority of those living in the West Bank say they would not move to Jewish settlements if built in Gaza.
Theroux’s film also leaves out the key historical context which explains why the West Bank is governed in the way it is. Checkpoints, for instance, were built because of a wave of violent attacks by Palestinians travelling into Israeli cities between 2000 and 2002 known as the second intifada. In 2023, many Palestinian stabbing plots were thwarted only because knives were found on the people intending to carry them out as they passed through checkpoints into Israel.
Let’s be very clear. Every single attack directed at civilians whether committed by Palestinians or Israelis is criminal, immoral and unjustified. Our community must do better to address the root causes of this shameful violence as these are not our values. <a class="break-all" href="https://archive.ph/o/ZIEXG/www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2025/04/15/israeli-settlers-emboldened-by-trump-lay-siege-to-west-bank/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Settler extremists do not act in our name.

But this simplistic worldview — in which the Israelis are oppressors and Palestinians the weak oppressed – is plain wrong. The reality is far more complex.
Dr Eitan Oren is a war studies lecturer at King’s College London

From The Telegraph

@Hoppinggreen
After all of this and watching LT I am convinced that for a large part of the Israeli population (unfortunately including those in power) nothing short of wiping out Palestine will be enough.

My apologies, it sounded like you were extrapolating.

This is really interesting but hopefully unnecessary. Only a fool would watch a documentary and reach any conclusions about anything beyond the specific subjects of the documentary.

I was raised on someone else's land profiting from their oppression and it was awful for me.

Checkpoints, for instance, were built because of a wave of violent attacks by Palestinians travelling into Israeli cities between 2000 and 2002 known as the second intifada.

Is anybody saying thay they can't have checkpoints on the Israeli border if they want? Nope, the issue is with having them on land that isn't theirs, on roads that aren't theirs, connecting towns that aren't theirs, patrolling streets that aren't theirs. Do what you like in Israel but what sort of person thinks it's OK to do this in territory that isn't yours? Who would defend that, someone who grew up with the belief that they had a right to live in someone else's home.