Israel’s decision to provide more than $1.3 million in funding to a settler organisation sanctioned by the UK will embolden attacks on Palestinians and accelerate the annexation of the occupied West Bank , a leading Israeli human rights organisation has told The New Arab.
The funding, approved by Israel's National Security Ministry headed by extremist minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, will go to Ahavat Gilad, a settler group sanctioned last month by the UK, France, Canada, Australia, Norway and New Zealand over its links to illegal outposts where violence against Palestinians has been documented.
Documents filed by the ministry show the grant forms part of a joint programme with the National Community Security Authority aimed at establishing "a network of mentors" to work with young people living on settlement farms across the occupied West Bank.
The contract allocates approximately $1.3 million over 18 months, with an option to renew it for a further 18 months.
"Settler violence is state violence. Israel arms settler militias with weapons, drones, and off-road vehicles, pours billions into funding settlements, new outposts, and the construction of roads for Jews only, and grants settlers full backing and near-total impunity for attacks against Palestinians," Yair Dvir, spokesperson for Israeli human rights group B'Tselem, told The New Arab.
"The Israeli authorities, the judicial system, the military, and the settlers are all arms of the Israeli occupation, working together to expand and deepen the ethnic cleansing Israel is carrying out in the West Bank," he added.
Last month, the UK and five allies sanctioned Ahavat Gilad, saying it acted as a conduit for funds to the Farm Association, which financially supported illegal settler outposts where attacks against Palestinian communities had taken place.
According to the documents, Israel's National Security Ministry selected Ahavat Gilad because of its "connections with law enforcement and the trust it enjoys on the ground", a description rights groups say reflects the close relationship between settlers and Israeli security forces.
The ministry told Israeli newspaper Haaretz that the organisation had been chosen because of its "proven, unique and extensive experience in connecting with the field, including measurable significant results in leading youth to positive action".
It added that it remained committed to "the good of the State of Israel and the citizens of Israel, and therefore does not accept dictates from international bodies with anti-Israeli agendas and foreign considerations."
The funding comes as settler expansion and attacks continue across the occupied West Bank.
Hassan Malihat, general supervisor of the Al-Baydar Organisation for the Defence of Bedouin Rights, told The New Arab that settlers established two new outposts over the weekend while attacks intensified in several Palestinian communities.
"On Sunday morning, settlers began preliminary steps to establish a new outpost in an area about 500 metres away from the community of Maazi Jaba, northeast of Jerusalem," Malihat said.
He added that another outpost had been established on Saturday evening in the Tal al-Asour area east of Ramallah.
Meanwhile, Israeli forces entered several neighbourhoods in Nablus, deploying across the city and raiding at least one building.
The development also follows comments by US Congressman Ro Khanna, who said he was recently detained by Israeli soldiers and settlers while visiting a Palestinian village that had been attacked.
"We were at a village that Israeli settlers had destroyed; they had destroyed the school, they had destroyed that village, and we were just looking at it," Khanna said.
"And these hoodlums come in with machine guns – M4, an American-made machine gun – and they detain us. They block off the road. And then they call the IDF and the IDF is on their side, not on the side of the Americans," he added.