In a series of interviews after meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump on Dec. 29, 2025, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has sought to downplay the settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank. He claimed that only “a handful of kids” who are not from the West Bank were responsible for the attacks on Palestinians.
“When they’re talking about it, they’re talking about a handful of kids,” Netanyahu said in an interview with Fox News, reported the Times of Israel, referring to “bloated” media coverage of the violence. “We actually located it. It’s about 70 kids. They’re not from the West Bank,” he claimed. “They’re actually teenagers who come from broken homes, and they do things like chopping olive trees, and sometimes they try to burn a home. I can’t accept that. That’s vigilantism. I’m taking that out.”
When asked about apparent disagreements with U.S. President Donald Trump relating to the West Bank, Netanyahu denied any significant conflict. “I think we both want to see a future in which that territory is not used for terrorist attacks,” the premier said. “We’ve done a lot of things in that regard. We also want to build a lot of infrastructure there, both for us and for our Palestinian neighbors. But I think, ultimately, Israel has to have military control over this area.”
There’s no indication that any of Netanyahu’s interviewers challenged his fairy tales.
Meanwhile, Israel Katz, Netanyahu’s psychotic defense minister, told senior IDF commanders in the West Bank, including Central Command head Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth, that they must prepare for a Gaza kind of war in the West Bank. “You must prepare to respond to a possible attack on communities in the West Bank and along the seam line, in the style of October 7 [2023], by jihadist elements,” Katz reportedly said.
Bluth had said earlier in the day that the IDF must be ready for “a surprise war.”
“The baseline scenario we must prepare for is readiness for a surprise war,” Bluth said, according to the IDF. “We are required to maintain a high level of preparedness and alertness, while using the time to strengthen our professional foundations.”
While no evidence is cited suggesting that Palestinian armed groups are preparing for an Oct. 7 uprising, it seems likely that Palestinians in general are being driven into desperation by Israeli repression. On Dec. 31, 2025, Middle East Eye reported that IDF bulldozers began the destruction of residential buildings in the Nur Shams refugee camp in Tulkarm, leaving about 400 Palestinians homeless. Israeli troops had already expelled families from the targeted buildings at the start of a major military assault on the northern West Bank earlier this year.
MEE reports that the demolitions came after Israel’s Supreme Court on Dec. 24, 2025 rejected an appeal by Palestinians from the camp and surrounding areas against military orders to destroy the residential buildings. Adalah, the legal center that filed the petition, said the court based its decision on classified material submitted by the Israeli Public Prosecution in coordination with military intelligence.
