Prior to Oct 7, 2023, there was a concerted campaign by Itamar Ben-Gvir to have Israeli police stand down and make no effort to stop attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank. That campaign went into high gear in December 2022, when he became the Minister for National Security, that, among other things, put him in charge of the policing of the West Bank. One case—the Mohar case—is illustrative:
In May 2025, Israeli peace activists were accompanying a group of Palestinians in Mughayyir al-Deir part of the West Bank. Settlers opened fire on the Palestinians. They also seized the camera and cellphone (and other items, such as his laptop and wallet) from an Israeli activist, Avishay Mohar. He filed a police complaint at the Binyamin police station two days after the attack. The complaint included medical documents, a picture of several of the attackers, and the name of one of the assailants.
Further, the GPS tracker on the laptop that the settlers took was active in the weeks after the attack, and the victim’s lawyer updated police regarding its location, showing its presence at a couple of illegal settler outposts. Also, since the attackers had been in Mohar’s car, he offered police access to scan it for fingerprints. Yet the police decided to close the investigation, saying that they had been unable to identify the perpetrators.
