Should the international community sanction Israel over settler violence in West Bank?

[FloralDeerPattern]

The problem of Israeli terrorism is getting worse and worse. Just over the past few weeks amongst other things Israeli terrorists have killed multiple people, commited sexual assault, beaten and threatened to rape young Palestinian girls, continually attacked the residents and property of the only remaining fully Christian town in the West Bank, stolen 100s of sheep from the Bedouin community, beaten activists who are there to provide a protective presence to Palestinians, set fire to property.

Palestinians don't have the right to defend themselves from this violent, rapidly escalating Israeli terrorism. They can't arrest and detain the Israeli terrorists. They are sitting ducks with no means of protecting themselves from beatings and sexual violence. Is it time that the international community steps in and sanctions Israel until they can control their obvious terrorism problem? What else can be done to try and protect innocent people from this escalating Israeli violence?

Again, just because some hardliners/extremists in the Israel government want to remove Palestinians from Gaza, that does not equate to ordinary Israeli soldiers (who have to perform military service whether they want to or not) all being psychopaths who would kill children deliberately for sport.

To suggest they are a nation of psychopathic lunatics who enjoy killing children is antisemitic.

“Encouraging the voluntary migration” is very different from wanting people to be forcibly removed or removed from the population by killing them.

Even assuming the poll is a reliable one which I don’t know as haven’t checked it out.

He’s one man so how can he represent the whole of Israel?

Do any UK politicians- even those in Government- represent all of us?

What do you think "encouraging" means?? The encouragement is making life so unbearable that they have no choice but to leave if they want to live. Historically, this is not the first time the term has been used.

It’s irrelevant what I think it means.

The fact is this was the way it was put to Israelis in your poll & it probably meant different things to different people. Whether it was a large sample or a valid poll I don’t know 🤷🏼‍♀️

Why did Israel murder 6000 Palestinians in Gaza then while mowing the grass.

Well here's another for you with plenty of links for you to fact check it.

The Academic/Media Studies on Expulsion: Academic studies and mainstream televised polls (including surveys by Channel 12 and Channel 13) recorded highly controversial figures regarding harsher measures. A study discussed extensively in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz showed that 82% of Jewish Israelis surveyed expressed support for the expulsion or transfer of Gazans. The same poll found that 56% supported expelling Palestinian citizens of Israel.

https://www.genocidewatch.com/single-post/poll-show-most-jewish-israelis-support-expelling-gazans

https://www.genocidewatch.com/single-post/poll-show-most-jewish-israelis-support-expelling-gazans

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2025-05-28/ty-article-magazine/.premium/yes-to-transfer-82-of-jewish-israelis-back-expelling-gazans/00000197-12a4-df22-a9d7-9ef6af930000

https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/2025-06-04/ty-article-opinion/.premium/do-82-of-israelis-really-back-expulsion-of-gazans-the-data-tells-a-different-story/00000197-39da-da41-a9f7-3dde468d0000

That’s a very complex question and not one I feel best qualified to answer even if I take your statement at face value. Which I don’t as I find some of the statements you present as facts to be unreliable.

In any case it’s not the point I was making which is that factually speaking, 7/10/23 was the event that triggered the Gaza war.

I agree. It is obvious that it’s coercion.

Here are some extracts from Amira Hass’ piece in Haaretz earlier this week. Won’t post on its entirety but would recommend. It’s a powerful and sobering read.

Otherwise Occupied
Israel Isn't Debating a Palestinian State. It's Preparing for Expulsion

‘Gadi Eisenkot's position on Palestinian statehood is beside the point. Across Gaza, the West Bank and Israel itself, the machinery for making Palestinian life impossible is already operating, laying the groundwork for mass expulsion.’

‘"Erasure" is the nightmare solution being written into reality every day. Knesset laws, politicians' declarations, military orders, school textbooks and the holy real estate battalions operating in Gaza, the West Bank and the Negev all work, together and separately, to advance this "solution" diligently and without fear of international condemnation.’

‘Israeli policy is directed toward making life unbearable for Palestinianswherever they live, so that their emigration can be described as an act of free will. ‘

‘The Jewish Phalangists and the right-wing organizations that fuel them are counting on broad mobilization, including from the leaders, voters and supporters of Yashar and the liberal Democrats party, for a war that could already be given the slogan: "One people, one army, one land cleansed of Arabs."’

www.haaretz.com/opinion/2026-09-01/ty-article/.premium/israel-isnt-debating-a-palestinian-state-its-preparing-for-expulsion/000001a0-56c1-dc19-a5a4-dfdfa0fd0000

Apologies got the link - not sure it’s working? The one at the bottom is to a different article.

Israel Isn't Debating a Palestinian State. It's Preparing for Expulsion - Opinion

Here it is

My facts are unreliable? There you go.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Timeline_of_Israel-Palestine_fatalities_2008-2023.png

This did not start on Oct 7th.

Haartz is known to have an anti Israel stance so their journalists opinion is no surprise.

That's a very Israeli stance to take. When you don't like the narrative, claim the source is unreliable. We hear that a lot.

@Twiglets It wasn’t intended to be a surprise. I don’t think it’s a surprise to anyone who has been following events. However, it’s well written and prescient.

I don’t say all your facts are unreliable and you saying I did is another example of why I can’t just accept your statements at face value.

What I said was I find some of the statements you present as facts to be unreliable.

Tedious hair splitting on here sometimes. It’s a shame as it just diverts from any discussion on the actual content shared.

The source is well known to be anti Israel - whether you accept that or not is of no interest to me.

We see people questioning sources all the time on this board so it’s not particularly “a very Israel stance to take”.

My sources get questioned regularly- for example when I have quoted something from the Telegraph it has been pointed out it has a right wing stance. Which I accept.

Your unnecessary comment just created more diversion from the main topic under discussion 🤷🏼‍♀️

I saw a video by Andrey X where and IDF soldier was scaring children in the West Bank shouting and aiming his gun at them. Andrey asked him why he did that and he said 'I like it, they are terrorists'. These kids were no older than 7 or 8 and should be safe walking down the streets of their towns instead they are being terrorised by soldiers for fun because they 'like it' and they believe that little kids are terrorists.

Israeli government ministers calling for their ethnic cleansing, saying that the children of Gaza 'brought it on themselves', saying that 'every child born there is already a terrorist, from the moment of his birth', saying that babies in the maternity ward of the besieged Al Shifa Hospital are all born terrorists. All by different ministers, all elected by the Israeli people, none of them lost their jobs over these statements.

I don't know how many confessions some people need before they will believe what they are explicitly being told. The army don't give a fuck, they shoot, they kill, they terrorise, encouraged by their government ministers and they couldn't care less.

I don't know what type of person thinks that these poor children who are being targeted by bigoted fuckers who believe that babies are terrorists should have to move to be safe from them.

“The army” is made up of many different individuals.

They aren’t all the same unless you don’t see Israelis as like other humans.

This is getting ridiculous @Twiglets. You have already accused @FloralDeerPattern of antisemitism on the grounds that the use of the term ‘Israel’ (as in the state of) can be applied to every single person, whereas it’s common usage across the board when discussing the government and military actions. Now you are implying that the term ‘army’ can’t be applied when criticised because it dehumanises Israelis? Really? Does this apply only to Floral’s use of it or to everyone else? What word would you suggest we all use to define the army if we cannot use the actual word?

@Squeezingwildoranges ,

‘The Sovereignty Movement Poll: A poll released ahead of the right-wing Sovereignty Movement conference found that 73% of the Jewish Israeli public supports "encouraging the voluntary emigration" of Gaza Strip residents to other countries.
https://www.ribonut.co.il/BlogPostID.aspx?BlogPostId=1051&lang=2
It's not just the majority view. It's overwhelmingly the majority view.’

I think you have to be very careful about using snapshot polls as evidence of a population’s view.

In the poll below a substantial minority of Gazans want to leave and are happy to get help from Israel in so doing. In addition, although it has come down from 70% directly after 7/10, still nearly 50% of Gazans thought 7/10 was a good thing.

I have seen this kind of poll used time and time again to justify Israel’s treatment of the civilians in Gaza.

The reality is that both populations are currently radicalised and cannot envision living side by side peacefully.

It takes good (or excellent) leadership on both sides to bring peace in this kind of situation. Neither side have it right now, which is why the international community need to pressurise them.

www.pcpsr.org/sites/default/files/Poll%2095%20press%20release%206May2025%20ENGLISH.pdf

Presumably by ‘anti Israel’, you mean anti - Israeli government? As the longest running Israeli paper, it may be highly critical of the government and very left wing, but it would be wrong to suggest that Haaretz reporters and journalists oppose the existence of Israel, for example.

I can accept the term ‘anti-Israel’ as reference to the government rather than the existence of the state, but it’s worth remembering that other posters may also use the term with that in mind too.

Of course it’s ok to use the word “army” to refer to the army.

What isn’t ok is to imply that “the army” is one violent psychopathic entity who enjoy killing children.

I wouldn’t disagree that there are individuals within the IDF who are needlessly violent towards Palestinians and have likely committed war crimes. That will be the case in any army in a war.