British activist abducted by West Bank settlers - The Latest

0:00This is The Guardian.

0:10These settlements are being built on land that is intended by the international community for a state of Palestine. We're seeing both militant settlers working essentially with Israeli security forces. When you talk about this as a systemic campaign of violence against Palestinians, I think that that's really important to understand. And we've really seen a massive intensification of this violence. From the Guardians today in Focus, this is The Latest with me, Lucy Hoth. A British activist was reportedly kidnapped by Israeli militant settlers in the West Bank, handed to Israeli police and now deported back to the UK.

0:52Emma Graham Harrison, you're our chief Middle East correspondent. What happened to Finn Jochen in the West Bank? because the footage of his abduction kidnapping is particularly harrowing to watch. Yeah, it's pretty shocking. I mean, you see this young man being dragged away by a group of Israeli militant settlers with assault rifles, you know. So they're not pointing them at him, but he's being dragged away by armed men. Other activists who are in this village, it's an area that's been a site of frequent extreme violence by Israelis. It's the place where you may remember last year, the activist Alde Hathaline was shot dead by Yinnon Levy, who has now been charged over that killing.

1:35Some Palestinian kids were reportedly playing football. Israeli settlers, including their kids, came into the area and started trying to, among other things, dismantle a fence. And what we were told and what the footage that we've seen appears to back up is that he was essentially trying to just hold that fence in place really just by standing there. so that it couldn't be taken down. Okay, and he has now been deported yesterday back to the UK. What is the Israeli justification for his arrest and deportation? So, you know, one of the things that was shocking about this was I contacted both the Israeli military and the Israeli police when I first heard reports of this and finally got a response back from the police who said that they had arrested not the armed man who'd taken away this young activist, but the activist himself.

2:26So I finally heard back from the police who said that he had been detained by the security coordinator for the settlement from which these Israelis came on suspicion of committing an indecent act against a minor. Now, obviously, that's a very serious allegation. But as you say, he's now been deported. And I think, you know, most countries, including Israel, take abuse of children extremely seriously and would expect justice to be done. So I think it's reasonable to conclude that that was an allegation that didn't have any basis in facts. Had it been, they would have kept him there and wanted him to face justice.

3:03Absolutely, absolutely. Well, it speaks to something about the systemic nature of this, doesn't it? That someone protesting against the illegal settler activity in the West Bank is arrested and deported rather than the settlers themselves by Israeli police. Given the illegality of settlements in the West Bank under international law, what's been the response of the British government about this case thus far? I mean, you know, there's been a pretty, one could say, tepid response. I think the British government said they're talking to Israeli authorities. And I don't think there's been any further update.

3:39OK, well, that's disappointing to say the least. Since October the 7th, there has been a surge in attacks on Palestinians, ethnic cleansing in parts of the West Bank, in addition, of course, to the decades of such activity prior to October 2023. But there has been a real surge in such attacks, in such violence in the last few weeks in particular. Can you tell me what's been going on? So, yeah, I mean, I think when you talk about this as a systemic campaign of violence against Palestinians, I think that that's really important to understand. And, you know, this sort of massive increase in this violence that we've seen after 2023 has the support of much of Israel's current government.

4:27You know, back in 2024, so this is two years ago, the far right Minister for Settlements described the period after October 7th, you know, the greatest loss of life in Israel's history, the biggest attack on Jews since the Holocaust, as a time of miracles for the settlement movement because of the essentially gains that they were able to make in the occupied West Bank, which, you know, the UK, along with many other countries, has recognised as land that should constitute the state of Palestine. More recently, as we're heading into elections, there's certainly parts of this far-right government that either are concerned that they might lose power and therefore essentially trying to consolidate their position as much as they can, or perhaps others who see this as a chance for electioneering.

5:18So we've really seen a massive intensification of this violence. We're seeing both militant settlers working essentially with Israeli security forces, you know, as you saw in the case of the British activists near Hebron. We've seen the same thing in a place called Khuzra, which has had a lot of attention recently. It's a village in the northern part of the West Bank where three Palestinian homes have been under siege for several weeks now. It was a siege that was originally laid by settlers who'd succeeded in forcing several Palestinian families out of their homes in a neighbouring village not long before that, it became to international attention because one of those homes is owned by a US citizen, Mike Huckabee, the American ambassador, called the settlers who were besieging this house Israeli terrorists.

6:06The army was called in and said they were going to lift the siege. But what they've essentially done is tamp down the violence, but continue to enforce the siege. And in fact, they forced one of the families out of their house. There were three families. So where the settlers had failed, the army succeeded. And I think, you know, it's important to both understand this systemic sort of essentially cooperation between the military, the police and the most violent settlers to be attacking the home of an American citizen, as we saw this weekend, to be attacking very prominent American TV journalists.

6:43This is a sort of sense of, you You know, there's always been a sense of impunity about attacking Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. Well, there has for many years been a sense of impunity about attacking Palestinians. But that seems to have extended even to Americans. You know, you have many Israelis now, very mainstream Israelis, former prime ministers, people who headed Israeli security forces calling these settlers terrorists because they say they're using terror for political ends. So this attack on foreign journalists was an attack on the American broadcaster NBC who'd sent a team to cover this surge in violence in these particular towns.

7:21Is America responding in any way? I mean, you know, that's a fascinating question. America is such a critical ally for Israel at a time when it's really more isolated than it's ever been internationally. And yet the American government doesn't seem willing or able, you know, Trump's very focused on Iran, secondarily, perhaps on Gaza. And, you know, there's certainly many in Israel who appear to think they can sort of carry on doing this effectively with little real, you know, Huckabee saying something isn't really translating into any meaningful consequences. Yeah. So Israel are moving forward with what's being called the E1 settlement, which is effectively seeking an end to the two state solution.

8:05It has been met by huge international condemnation. There has been strong statements, there's been some announcements of sanctions, but is any of it enough? And what could be enough to stop Israel acting with such impunity? Well, you know, it's really interesting because strong statements don't work, as the last three years have shown us. You know, one could say they're sort of in a category with thoughts and prayers, frankly, when it comes to changing behavior. You know, for us, for the UK, we've recognized the state of Palestine. These settlements are being built on land that is intended by the international community for a state of Palestine.

8:43The ICJ has ruled that the Israeli occupation is illegal and should end as soon as possible. So, you know, there's a strong sort of backing of international law to act. And yet we can't even, you know, politically bring in sanctions on products from the settlements, for instance, which, you know, are very specifically targeted only at the settlements, not at the State of Israel inside its 1967 borders. And I find that the strongest calls for sanctions, for much more sweeping action at the moment, often are coming from inside Israel. When I speak to people who have been at the heart of Israel's political and security elite for decades, people who themselves are often quite criticized and controversial overseas for their role in, you know, Israel's wars in Lebanon, in Gaza, in crushing the Palestinian intifadas.

9:32they have been calling for international intervention because they feel that these are people who headed Mossad, the Shimbait, you know, Olmert, who was prime minister, they feel that the Israeli system at the moment does not have the capacity to rein in what they call Jewish terrorism in the West Bank, that there needs to be stronger international pressure. And I just finished by saying, you know, last month we had Rahm Emanuel, who was Barack Obama's chief of staff, came to Israel to give a speech in Tel Aviv, really part of a sort of positioning for a potential presidential campaign in 2028.

10:08In the past, that type of visit, he might have come as a sort of suppliant to sort of almost prove his strong connections with Israel. Instead, he really came to give a lecture to tell Israel that it was isolated, that it was taking a dangerous course, and called for sweeping sanctions, including potentially on the entire Israeli banking system. And this is a man whose father fought in Israel's 1948 War of Independence. And so I think it's interesting that our own government at the moment seems more cautious than many people either inside Israel who have obviously a long track record of service for their country or people who consider themselves strong supporters of Israel.

10:55Yeah, that is a very, very stark picture. Emma, thank you so much. Thank you. That's it for today. My huge thanks again to Emma Graham-Harrison, The Guardian's Chief Middle East Correspondent. You can keep up with all her reporting over at theguardian.com. And before we go, I highly recommend listening to Monday's episode of Politics Weekly, where Kieran Stacey and Peter Walker answered some of your questions, like will the UK ever rejoin the EU? Who is funding Andy Burnham? and will the bedroom tax be scrapped? Thanks for listening to this episode of The Latest. Today I'm focused to be back in your feeds as usual tomorrow morning.

11:30The Latest will be back tomorrow night. This episode was produced by Leo Schick and Angus Neal. The executive producer was Zoe Hitch and it was presented by me, Lucy Hoff.

11:43This is The Guardian.