Tensions erupted in the hills near the Ateret settlement in Binyamin on Friday afternoon, when dozens of Arab rioters, accompanied by known far-left anti-Israel anarchist inciters, launched a violent, premeditated assault on a small group of Jewish shepherds. According to eyewitnesses and Israeli officials, the assailants hurled stones and fired slingshots, vandalized agricultural equipment, burned a copy of the Hebrew Bible, and injured two Jewish shepherds.
Settler sources and Israeli security officials maintain that the incident was a coordinated terror attack. The Palestinian news agency WAFA inadvertently confirmed the premeditated nature of the assault, reporting that the rioters’ stated goal was to “remove an outpost” — a phrase settlers say thinly veils an attempt to mask organized terror under political activism.
In response to distress calls, Israeli security forces arrived promptly and repelled the attackers. As they entered the area, a natural gas tank planted by Arab rioters inside a bonfire exploded — a booby trap that underscores the planned and lethal intent behind the ambush. Miraculously, no injuries were reported from the explosion.
Despite the intervention, Arab rioters continued their assault along the open hillside. Additional Jewish activists were summoned during the ongoing attack, which led to further violent confrontations. The violence subsided shortly before the onset of Shabbat.
Several hours after the violence ended, Palestinian sources claimed that two Arabs had died in the clashes, one allegedly by live fire. The terror group Hamas immediately published inciting eulogies, labeling the deceased as “martyr fighters” and calling for retaliation.
However, the Palestinian Authority and Hamas have refused to hand over the bodies to Israeli authorities or provide any forensic evidence to corroborate the cause of death. Israeli officials suspect that these deaths may be unrelated to the events near Ateret or could have resulted from internal misfires or unrelated violence.
Settler leaders and officials from the Binyamin Regional Council slammed the Palestinian narrative, accusing both the PA and Hamas of spreading a modern-day blood libel. “This was a premeditated terror attack by local Arabs, joined by radical foreign and Israeli anarchists,” said a statement from the council. “Now the terrorists and their enablers are trying to reverse the roles and paint the Jewish victims as aggressors. We will not allow this vile narrative to stand.”
Officials emphasized the need to investigate the alleged Arab deaths fully but also demanded support for the IDF soldiers and security personnel who acted to defend Israeli civilians from the violent assault. “If it’s true that live fire was used, it was justified in the face of deadly violence. We stand behind our fighters,” the Binyamin Regional Council said.
During Shabbat, the current chairman of the Yesha council Israel Ganz and Yesha Council chairman Shlomo Ne’eman were in contact with senior IDF and Shin Bet officials. Israel Katz, the current Defense Minister, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were also updated. According to sources familiar with the discussions, there is no disagreement among Israel’s security leadership regarding the sequence of events: a planned Palestinian assault on Jewish civilians, aided by extreme-left activists.
Israeli officials have also updated senior American counterparts, amid concerns that the involvement of a dual Palestinian-American national in the incident may prompt international scrutiny.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry posted a video on Twitter showing Arabs throwing rocks at Jews.
“This is what they won’t show you on the news – how the incident started: Palestinians attacking Jews,” the post stated.
The Ateret incident is the latest escalation in a growing pattern of violent provocations against Jewish civilians in Judea and Samaria, masked by political rhetoric and aided by international actors. The refusal to release the bodies or provide evidence only deepens suspicions of manipulation and propaganda.
With documented video of Palestinian stone-throwing and the reported gas balloon trap, Israeli officials say the facts clearly demonstrate that this was a pre-orchestrated terror assault — not a spontaneous clash. Now, they warn, the real danger is the global distortion of that reality.
The Yesha (Yehuda and Shomron/Judea and Samaria) council released an official statement in response:
“On Friday afternoon, dozens of Arab assailants, accompanied by anarchists and far-left activists, attacked a small group of Jewish shepherds in open fields near the community of Ateret. They hurled stones, injured two civilians, and set fire to property, including a copy of the Bible. IDF forces were called to the scene and acted to disperse the assailants and protect the civilians under attack.”
Only hours after the incident had ended, the Palestinian Authority and terror organizations claimed that two individuals were killed, but the bodies were never handed over for medical examination. At least one of the deceased, an American citizen, has been identified online as a Hamas operative who openly incited violence.
Unfortunately, this is part of a recurring pattern of premeditated violence targeting Israeli civilians, especially on weekends. It is deeply troubling that instead of highlighting the ongoing attacks against innocent Israeli citizens, media attention has once again amplified the narrative of the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, the very actors inciting and perpetrating the violence on the ground.
This libel was documented in a comprehensive new report from the Regavim Movement, titled “False Flags and Real Agendas,” which investigates the widely circulated narrative of “settler violence” in Judea and Samaria. It exposes how this concept is often based on inflated or distorted data—primarily sourced from Palestinian testimonies and the UN OCHA database—with minimal independent verification. Over 98 % of flagged incidents stemmed from clashes involving the IDF or were legitimate security operations rather than Jewish civilian aggression. After filtering out non‑violent events—such as traffic mishaps, archaeological visits, legal infrastructure work, or self‑defense actions—the number of credible settler violence cases dwindles to a few hundred over several years—far below the claimed scale.
The report asserts that the narrative of “settler violence” functions as a political weapon and a modern‑day blood libel, designed not only to defame Israeli settlers but also to undermine the legitimacy of the State of Israel and its military. It points to coordination between left‑wing NGOs, international bodies, and even Palestinian authorities, all aiming to distort incidents for political ends, including securing global pressure, sanctions, and delegitimization of Israel. The report calls for transparent, accurate data and a proactive public diplomacy campaign to combat these false narratives. As it concludes, the concept of widespread “settler violence” is overwhelmingly a fabricated lie, repackaged as a propaganda tool in the broader struggle against Israel.
