Israeli settlers torch mosque and spray graffiti in latest West Bank attack
Israeli forces surround the al-Hajj Hamid Mosque in the occupied West Bank.
Israeli settlers torched a mosque and sprayed it with graffiti in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, according to Palestinian authorities, the latest in a surge of increasingly brazen settler attacks against Palestinians.
The Ministry of Awqaf and Religious Affairs said settlers attacked the Hajjah Hamidah Mosque in Salfit in the northern West Bank, calling it a “heinous crime and a blatant assault on the feelings of Muslims.”
“The attack resulted in parts of the mosque being set on fire and defaced with racist graffiti by settler gangs, who carry out daily assaults on Islamic holy sites and citizens’ properties amid a systematic escalation in both the frequency and nature of these violations,” the ministry statement said.
The settlers attacked the mosque early Thursday before morning prayers, according to the Mayor of Deir Istiya.
“Many houses and cars were not attacked, but rather the attack was on a religious symbol to provoke Muslims with offensive phrases against the Prophet [Muhammad] and Muslims,” Abdul Rahim Zidan said in an interview with state-run Palestine TV.
Images shared by the ministry showed writing in Hebrew on the exterior of the mosque saying, “Mohammed is a pig,” a reference to Islam’s prophet, and “Not afraid of Avi Bluth.” Bluth is the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) commander in the West Bank, who issued a statement on Wednesday condemning the settler attacks and calling the perpetrators an “anarchist fringe youth.”
Images showed parts of the interior damaged by fire, with a pile of charred debris scattered across the ground. The walls appear blackened with smoke and heat marks, and the glass of the windows smashed.
The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs denounced the attack in a statement, saying it “holds the Israeli government fully and directly responsible for this crime and its consequences.”
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In a statement to CNN, the IDF acknowledged the attack, saying it dispatched forces to the scene to “review the incident and conduct scans” and transferred the case to the Israel Police for further processing. The IDF said “no suspects were identified.”
Some 700,000 Jewish settlers live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, territory the Palestinians want for a future state. Israeli settlements in the occupied territories are considered illegal according to international law.
Record number of settler attacks
Settler attacks on Palestinians and their properties have surged this year, particularly during the olive harvest season in October and November. A United Nations report released last week found that Israeli settlers launched at least 264 attacks in October, the largest number since the UN began tracking incidents in 2006. The repeated attacks have marred this year’s olive harvest.
On Tuesday, dozens of Israeli settlers launched a major arson attack against an agricultural area in the northern West Bank village of Beit Lid, setting fire to a a new dairy factory and torching vehicles and tents in a nearby Bedouin community.
Footage obtained by CNN showed the settlers pouring gasoline on cars and trucks before setting the vehicles alight. The video showed smoke engulfing the area, with Palestinian women wailing as men carry extinguishers and water buckets in a scramble to douse the fires.
CNN visited the site of the attack and saw charred vehicles, and the damage left around the Bedouin community…
https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/13/middleeast/west-bank-mosque-graffiti-settlers-intl
(I’ve believed for 35+ years of my life, the Israel, Palestinian, and Muslim wars will never stop. It’s gone on for centuries. The U.S. should stop trying to solve the problem. It’s biblical.)