Last Saturday, I watched the premiere of “Holly Redemption,” a documentary by the TRT World research team that aims to bring the human tragedy in Palestine to the public. My colleagues infiltrated radical groups in Israel, filming footage and interviews to produce a documentary that is powerful evidence of the genocide in Gaza.
In the documentary, Israeli activists, former Israeli soldiers, radical settler leaders and members of the Israeli parliament, along with the radical youth organization “Hilltop Youth,” detail how this group operates in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, carries out attacks against Palestinians and is covertly – or I might even say openly – supported by the Israeli state.
The documentary, which examined the terrorist gang’s strategies to displace Palestinians and the systematic theft of their land, revealed how illegal settlements are inhabited and Palestinian homes are looted.
Hilltop Youth, also known as the “Wild Youth,” is a group that is positioned on the far right of the Israeli political spectrum. Its members have even clashed with the Israeli government and military. Their aim is to expand Jewish settlements in the West Bank and build illegal settlements on Palestinian-owned land.
The group seeks to establish Jewish supremacy, disregards Israeli law and international norms and sees itself as a movement fulfilling God’s command. By defining their actions as carrying out divine orders, they ignore Israeli law and international standards in their pursuit of Jewish supremacy. This ideological stance makes it appropriate to describe Hilltop Youth as Israel’s version of Hezbollah.
The terrorist gang belonging to the Zionist Hilltop Youth Movement is ruthlessly threatening the civilian population in the rural areas of the West Bank, creating a crisis of security for the lives and property of the Palestinian people through terrorist acts. The Hilltop Youth aims to take total control of the West Bank and Gaza while burning Palestinian agricultural lands and olive groves, which are a source of Palestinians’ livelihood, while also killing livestock and damaging settlements.
This terrorist group enters Palestinian villages day and night, shouting hateful slogans such as “Dirty Arabs, die, all of you!” and trying to provoke the Palestinian people by cursing their faith and their prophets, with the ultimate aim of beating or killing them in the streets.
Of course, it is worth mentioning that the Hilltop Youth’s goal is not only to take over physical settlements but also to change the demographic structure of the region.
The Hilltop Youth is indirectly supported by some Israeli officials, and this support encourages the group’s actions. This approach, which borders on lawlessness, is carried out by a group establishing unofficial outposts and armed forces in the West Bank. This group not only damages Palestinian agricultural land but also targets schools and mosques, thereby destroying the social fabric.
According to a report by the Guardian, Ronen Bar, the head of Israel’s Internal Security Service (Shin Bet), wrote a letter stressing that the actions of Hilltop Youth are not only criminal but also acts of terrorism. Bar described the group as a “stain on Judaism” and highlighted the situation as a threat to national security.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir criticized Bar’s letter and called for the Shin Bet chief’s dismissal. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, however, supported Bar’s views. This situation also signaled a divergence between Israel’s security strategies and domestic politics.
It would be a joke if Israel could provide security for the Palestinian people while harboring such instability and conflict in its own national affairs. The actions of radical groups such as the Hilltop Youth are causing divisions even within Israel itself, while the oppression and violence, or rather “genocide,” targeting the Palestinians continue to increase by the day.
