“Settler violence, while involving only 100-400 rioters, is both morally inexcusable and harms the State of Israel,” Channel 12’s Amit Segal wrote in his newsletter recently. His father, also a prominent commentator, Hagai Segal, concurred in his weekend column in Makor Rishon: “Hundreds of young Jewish individuals, unrestrained by law or morality, are rampaging daily in Judea, Binyamin and Samaria.”
Outside the Segal dynasty, the organization Hineini assembled a panel of religious-Zionist notables, including former Maj.-Gen. Yaakov Amidror, the head of Yeshivat Otniel Rabbi Benny Kalmanson, and Tzohar chairman Rabbi David Stav. Most notably, Religious Zionist Party chairman Bezalel Smotrich wrote in a weekend column in Makor Rishon that the violence must be “uprooted at its source.”
The Right is drawing a line.
Tribalism is a universal human trait. In Israel, it runs especially deep. Most are hesitant to join attacks on their own community, no matter how valid the criticism. Yet over the weekend, many on the Right – particularly within the religious-Zionist community – rose above that instinct and did what every responsible political entity must do: police its own.
Responding to escalating settler violence
Israel’s current situation offers countless avenues for deflection: mentioning the fact that Palestinian violence remains more deadly, appealing to unity amid a broader war, or arguing that settler violence, however visible, remains a fringe phenomenon. Yet these figures chose not to obscure the issue but to confront it directly.
Much of this shift may stem from warnings by senior Israeli diplomats about the damage the violence is causing to Israel’s international standing. It may also reflect concerns raised by close allies, including US Ambassador Mike Huckabee, as well as a growing sense that the violence was escalating without an effective response.
Whatever the cause, the shift reveals something important: For a significant segment of the Right, there remains something more important than tribal loyalty – the common good of the country.
It is a powerful principle, and a necessary one for securing Israel’s future.
Globally, the trend is moving toward a kind of perverse political tolerance. Figures who would once have been treated as beyond the pale are now welcomed into mainstream discourse. Unfortunately, this is not unique to one side.
There was a time when a Nazi tattoo would have disqualified a candidate from a Democratic primary; today, figures like Graham Platner endure. Likewise, the kinds of conspiracies and rhetoric associated with Tucker Carlson would once have been a clear red line in Republican politics. Despite efforts by many to expel him, his influence persists.
Choosing responsibility over reflex
This reflects a deeper rot in the body politic – a disease that treats the opposing side not as a rival but as a virus to be eliminated, even at the expense of the broader system’s health.
When politics becomes total war, internal accountability disappears. Allies are no longer scrutinized, because everything is subordinated to eliminating the other side – and because there is little trust that opponents will hold their own to similar standards.
That is why the emerging effort on the Israeli Right matters. It is an example of a political camp choosing responsibility over reflex.
It isn’t the first time. In the summer of 2005, as Israel prepared to withdraw from Gaza, the nation reached what was perhaps the peak of its polarization. For religious Zionists, the evacuation was more than a political defeat; it was a direct assault on their fundamental conviction that Jews must not be uprooted from the Land of Israel. Protesters, desperately clinging to Jewish homes, were forced to watch their fellow citizens hold signs rejoicing at their removal.
Pinchas Wallerstein, a veteran leader of the settler movement, saw the battle lines drawn. He knew the political fight was already lost, and he realized that forcing a physical clash would only tear the country apart. With a heavy heart, he chose national unity over ideological victory, and told the protesters to go home.
It takes responsibility for leaders to look beyond the surging emotions of their constituents in defense of a higher principle.
Today’s stance remains largely confined to the civic rather than the political sphere. Some in the leadership of the Right, Itamar Ben-Gvir most prominently among them, still deflect, refuse to condemn, and even actively shield the perpetrators that are harming the state.
The American commentator Andrew Breitbart famously argued that politics is downstream from culture. In Israel, however, the two can feel dangerously disconnected. Civil society shows signs of health, while politics remains deeply poisonous. When influence does manage to flow between them, it almost always moves in the wrong direction.
If we want it to move the right way, it’s time for cultivation, to applaud and support the efforts at self-regulation. We all live in this ecosystem, so let’s ensure that Israel’s politics flower, not rot.
The writer serves as the English director of the Ribo Center and the editor of Amit Segal’s newsletter, It’s Noon in Israel.
