Louis Theroux's The Settlers: One hour of Israeli arrogance, aggression, racism, and anti-Palestinian hate

Give someone enough rope, and they will hang themselves. Israeli settlers, however, hardly need any prompting at all, as expertly shown by Louis Theroux (the king of prompting) in his latest film, The Settlers.

The result is one hour of unvarnished arrogance, racism and anti-Palestinian hate, as expressed through figures such as Daniella Weiss, the ‘Godmother’ of Israel’s settler movement.

Bouncing from location to location across the 140+ Israeli settlements in the West Bank, all of which are illegal under international law, Theroux speaks with a range of settlers: old and young, male and female, Russians and Americans — all united via a religious zeal and Wild West energy.

More than anything else, Theroux’s documentary captures the settlers’ entirely unabashed disregard for Palestinian life and suffering, courtesy of an Israeli military occupation that supports and enables them to act with impunity.

At one point, overlooking the smouldering ruins of north Gaza, Theroux stands amidst a gathering of Israeli activists who are planning settlements in the Strip. Before they dance and sing, the group casually discuss how “all of Gaza and Lebanon should be cleansed” of “savages” and “camel riders”.

Back in the heart of the West Bank, Ari Abramowitz, a Texan-Israeli settler who illegally founded a tourist hotspot on Palestinian land, tells Theroux that there is no such thing as a ‘Palestinian’.

“[They are] Arabs, not Palestinians… And I don't care if these settlements are legal by law. Here in Judea, some things transcend the whims of [Israeli] legislation”.

A 'state' in denial 

Meanwhile, another settlement founder, Malkiel Bar Hai (who dons a cowboy hat, half a dozen horses, and 8 children) explains how the ancient name for the West Bank is “Judea”, meaning “belongs to the Jews… History says it belongs to Israel” – something that Theroux immediately describes as a selective reading of history that ignores the Palestinians who lived in the land for generations.

In what is probably the documentary’s most powerful moment, Theroux asks Daniella Weiss if she is concerned or “aware that [Palestinians] are really suffering” from the settlers’ violence and her unabashed desire to displace Palestinians to “Africa, Canada, Turkey, etc”. Weiss dismissively retorts that she is only concerned with her people and family, not others, something that Theroux describes as “sociopathic.”

Weiss is deemed a religious nut-job by some in Israel, but the reality is that she is one of over 700,000 Israelis living in illegal settlements across the West Bank.

While it comes in varying levels of outward extremism and religious fervour, Israel’s settler movement is a normalised and inherent part of Israeli society, which is why the country has never witnessed widespread protests against such shameless and obvious land-grabbing in the West Bank.

Why not? Because for Israel to reach such public outrage and condemnation, the nation would have to address an even greater horror and reality: that the modern state of Israel was founded and built on the ongoing destruction and dispossession of the Palestinian people, from the river to the sea, not just the West Bank. A project of Irredentist ethno-nationalism built on Aliyah, ethnic cleansing and genocide.

The settler dream built on death 

Louis Theroux’s documentaries usually follow a country’s fringe groups. The Settlers bucks this trend completely. Weiss admits this much herself.

In another extraordinary moment, she gleefully tells Theroux how: “We [the settlers] do for governments what they cannot do for themselves… Netanyahu is very happy with our plans… but he cannot say it. [We] are helping the government”.

Theroux is known for his fly-on-the-wall approach, but his documentaries always end with his own editorial voice and perspective: “The settler dream shows no sign of abating, along with the displacement, dislocation and death that follows inevitably in its train. Advanced by ideologues, backed up by those in power, and accountable only to God.”

This collusion between the Israeli state and the settlers in the West Bank is on full display when Theroux visits Hebron.

While touring the city’s apartheid structure under Israeli occupation, and almost finding himself arrested by a cartoonish IDF checkpoint soldier, Theroux’s Palestinian guide summarises the state of affairs without affectation: “[The Israelis] don't see us as equal human beings who deserve the same rights as them, it’s as simple as that.”

Once dehumanised, anything is possible.

Sebastian Shehadi is a freelance journalist and a contributing writer at the New Statesman

Follow him on X: @seblebanon