Heavy machinery rolled into the Judean hills Monday morning as Israeli forces launched the largest demolition operation in a decade against a Jewish community in Gush Etzion. The target: Givat Tzur Misgavi, a two-year-old Jewish community where 25 families built their homes on Israeli land. While hundreds of police officers surrounded the settlement, protesters rushed to the scene, incredulous that their own government was tearing down Jewish homes while leaving thousands of illegal Arab structures untouched across Judea and Samaria.

The families of Givat Tzur Misgavi, also known as Givat Hatilim, established their community north of Metzad specifically to prevent a Palestinian Authority takeover from the nearby village of Si’ir. For two years, they built homes, raised children, and constructed a synagogue on land owned by the Israeli state. 

The Central Command chief ordered the evacuation following what the IDF described as “criminal activity and serious incidents of violence” in the area, though specifics were not provided.

It should be noted that the Regavim Movement studied claims of “settler violence” in their report,  “False Flags and Real Agendas,” documenting the use of false accusations and falsified testimonies as a strategic weapon against Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria. Regavim also reported a correlation between illegal Arab construction and terrorist attacks.

 But the Nachala Movement, which promotes new Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, responded that the explanation rings hollow. “At a time when our enemies are trying to undermine our hold on the land, it is the government that is directing tools and efforts against the pioneers of settlement,” the organization declared. “This is an unacceptable, anti-Zionist, and dangerous move that harms the very heart of the Jewish presence in the Land of Israel.”

Daniella Weiss, chairwoman of the Nachala Movement, issued an urgent call for citizens to converge on the site. “Heavy machinery has been mobilized in the Gush Etzion area to carry out destruction on an unprecedented scale,” she said. Hundreds of residents from throughout Judea and Samaria responded, attempting to block the demolitions. Knesset Member Limor Son Har-Melech of the Otzma Yehudit party arrived at the scene and directed her fury at movement leaders, including Yaron Rosenthal, head of the Gush Etzion Regional Council, and Ze’ev Hever, known as Zambish. “I call on you to stop the bulldozers immediately and prevent the demolition,” she said. “This is a dangerous precedent that will lead to a wave of demolitions, and the Land of Israel will not forgive you for this.”

Son Har-Melech raised the issue directly with Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, himself a longtime advocate for settlements. “In these days, when talk of a Palestinian state is once again on the agenda, the message of expelling families and demolishing their homes is destructive,” she said. The irony was not lost on observers: Smotrich, who has dedicated his political career to expanding Jewish presence in Judea and Samaria, now presides over what settlers describe as their worst demolition in a decade.

Rabbi Ari Abramowitz, co-founder of the Arugot Farm in eastern Gush Etzion, captured the settlers’ rage and bewilderment. “There are 40 families, families with children who are putting themselves in harm’s way to secure state land for the nation of Israel, so that European Union-funded jihadist Arabs won’t steal it,” he said. “They’re protecting the land, but now the government is coming and destroying their homes. Thousands of illegal Arab homes surround them, and not so much as one tractor anywhere near those illegal Arab structures. But if a Jew builds a home in his ancestral homeland on a mountaintop in Judea, the Israeli government shows up to destroy it. It’s devastating. It’s humiliating. And it’s self-destructive.”

Rabbi Jeremy Gimpel, who also co-founded Arugot, described the operation as catastrophic for the affected families. “The government is destroying dozens of homes,” he said. “This was totally unannounced. No one was prepared for this.”