Theroux’s “Settlers”; missing the bigger picture
JVL Introduction
A cautious welcome to the recent documentary by Louis Theroux on Israeli Settlers but with criticism that the documentary risks showing these settlers as outliers, extremists, when over 10% of Jewish Israelis live in West Bank settlements, all of which are illegal under international law. The likes of Ariel and Ma’ale Adumim in many ways are more of a threat to Palestinian access to and control of their own land than the violent settlers who attack directly and who are, for example, the focus of the film “No Other Land”. Much of the West Bank has already been lost to ‘non extremist’ settlers who perhaps lived there because it was affordable or even because that was where they were housed by the government when they emigrated to Israel.
As the article notes: as well as those living there, with some like Ben Gvir and Smotrich at the very heart of government, “62% of Jewish Israelis don’t even consider the West Bank as occupied territory”. Settlement living in the West Bank is absolutely mainstream. “Even so-called “centrist” politicians, who posed as an alternative to Netanyahu, built their electoral campaigns around promises to annex more land in the West Bank than him.”
David Lammy’s sanctions against some individual aggressive settlers continue the Israeli narrative , ignoring the International Court of Justice judgement last July, which stated that the occupation is illegal and saying it must end. Instead, on May 11th, the Israeli Cabinet approved illegal land registration in the area enabling Jewish Israelis to claim property rights in Area C of the occupied West Bank.
LL
This article was originally published by Mondoweiss on Sat 17 May 2025. Read the original here.
BBC’s ‘The Settlers’ refuses to scratch beneath the surface of Zionist settler colonialism
Louis Theroux’s BBC documentary on the Israeli settler movement in the West Bank fails to recognize how it is a natural extension of over a century of Zionist settler colonization.
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That the BBC aired this is a step forward. I’m grateful that the sanctimonious ‘nation’s most trusted’, broadcaster has even transmitted “The Settlers”. I’ve challenged the BBC several times for its fear of the establishment (it’s top influential positions are filled with Tory and others who fear for the continuation of the license fee more than belief in truth) but never penetrate the self-protection shell. I await the result of an Ofcom complaint re. their treatment of Israeli murders in Gaza and the greater Palestinian lands.
This is another example of how an ‘expert’ feels free to criticise what someone else is doing or has done, because it does not conform to their ideas about how it should be done. If the ‘expert’ thinks they can do a better job then perhaps they should demonstrate this by do it for themself. They might just find it is not quite so easy as they thought. It costs money to put together a film like this and being over critical is essentially telling other people how they should have spent their money