Resisters say no to Israeli settler terror

Dear Friend,

Rotem here. I refused to serve in the Israeli military as a teen, and today I work as Resistance Solidarity Network’s media coordinator. Last week, we wrote to you about the wave of settler attacks across the occupied West Bank and the emergency protest that followed in Tel Aviv. In the days since, the violence has continued, but so has the resistance.

This past Saturday, Jewish and Palestinian citizens gathered once again in Tel Aviv, alongside demonstrations in towns across the country, to protest the escalating settler violence and the Israeli military's campaign in the West Bank.

What struck me most wasn't only the protest itself, but everything around it. There were only a few hundred demonstrators, yet the streets were flooded with police. Patrol cars blocked intersections, Border Police units stood at nearly every corner, and undercover officers moved through the crowd. It was hard to shake the feeling that the authorities had prepared for something far larger, as though simply gathering to oppose settler violence had become a threat that demanded an overwhelming show of force.

And despite all of that, the protest was impossible to ignore. Journalists and photographers from Israel and abroad packed the sidewalks, documenting what was happening from every angle. If the intention was to intimidate people into staying home or to prevent the demonstration from having an impact, it didn't quite work. The cameras were there, and so were the people who refused to stay silent.

That is becoming a familiar pattern. As the occupation deepens and settler violence becomes increasingly normalized in Israeli public life, a relatively small number of people continue to organize, demonstrate, and insist on telling a different story. It often comes at the expense of work, friendships, and family relationships, and sometimes at the risk of arrest. They show up anyway.

We'll continue sharing these updates from the ground, because these are stories that rarely make it into the headlines: not only the violence itself, but the people who continue to resist it.

In solidarity,

Rotem Sudman
Media Coordinator
Resistance Soldiarity Netowrk