Fourteen years after his initial visit, BBC documentary maker Louis Theroux returned to the occupied West Bank to highlight the horrifying influence of the illegal Israeli settler movement.
Viewers praised the brave documentary, with social media users describing the treatment of Palestinians in their own land by Israeli settlers with words like “horror,” “genocidal,” “apartheid,” and “sociopathic.”
Theroux interviewed members of the growing ultra-religious-nationalist Israeli community establishing settlements in the West Bank, which is a war crime under international law. In 2010, he made a similar programme called The Ultra-Zionists.
In the current documentary, he spoke with one of the key figures in the settler movement leader, Daniella Weiss. Weiss claims to have played a role in nearly all the illegal settlements in the West Bank. There are around 350 settlements and “outposts” in the region.
In a striking exchange near the end of the documentary, Theroux challenges Weiss by pointing to the consequences of the settler movement: “There has been settlers rampaging through the area of the West Bank. So there is all this death and tragedy. When a people is invaded, and put under military occupation, deprived of their rights, anger seems to be an understandable response,” he says to her indifference.
What the documentary shows
The documentary shows:
- The Israeli state protects settlements in the West Bank despite being illegal under international law
- The strategic placement of settlements deliberately undermines the possibility of a functioning Palestinian state
- Palestinians are subjected to terror tactics, forcing them to abandon their homes
- The stark contrast between settlers’ and Palestinians’ lives, with deeply unequal rights and justice systems
- Settlers’ supremacist ideology, using racist and dehumanising language towards Palestinians like “savages” and “camel riders”
- IDF soldiers intimidate Palestinians near settlements, with checkpoints restricting movement and the constant surveillance of Palestinian homes
- Systematic denial of Palestinians’ humanity and equal rights
- Palestinians are regularly shot and killed by settlers and IDF
- Theroux himself experienced intimidation from angry IDF soldiers, providing an insight into the daily struggles of Palestinians.
- Theroux visits a Palestinian home when Israeli soldiers surround it at night, aiming rifles and lasers through windows. “Can we call the police?” he asks naively, which is met with unimpressed looks from his Palestinian guide.
- Interview with Weiss sees her boast that her views align with the Israeli government and that she is close with the administration
You can watch the documentary on the BBC iPlayer
