Dr Abdul Wahid says the BBC documentary, Louis Theroux: The Settlers, is a must-watch for how it subtly exposes the cold, calculated extremism and fanaticism of the Israeli settler movement which is determined to steal and occupy the whole of historic Palestine and beyond.
It is hard to describe how it felt like watching this programme. It was sickening to the stomach, yet necessary viewing for anyone who wants to understand what’s happening in Palestine today, and has happened for the last few decades.
If there was a weakness in Louis Theroux’s documentary shown on the BBC this week it was the title. “The Settlers” does not do justice to what his programme revealed as the word “settler” sounds like we are talking about a small number of people who are breaking international law.
Yet the programme reveals that these “small numbers” have always been a mere aperitif to the full-blown colonisation of Palestine and expulsion of its people. The hundreds of thousands of settlers that we see in the West Bank today started with small numbers decades ago.
The settler project
Louis Theroux is a journalist who manages to get information from his subjects without bullying, badgering or tripping them up. Rather, he engages them in friendly conversation and follows up with pertinent questions, put very politely and allowing them to talk. Ultimately he gives them enough rope to hang themselves.
Gradually, his subjects reveal the full horror of their personalities, ideology and project. There is no attempt to hide the fact that they wish for complete ethnic cleansing in historic Palestine and even Lebanon.
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Whilst they say their preferred method is to “encourage“ Palestinians to leave, there is no attempt to distance themselves from the ongoing genocide in Gaza.
A rabbi speaks about Palestinians as “savages” and “camel drivers.” Theroux asks the settlers where they are from in a casual, friendly way. But their answers – Russia, Warsaw, Brooklyn – reveal the fact that they have come from distant lands to take over this region.
Much focus is put on a woman described as the “godmother of the settler movement” -Daniella Weiss. She is 79 years old and continues to be active in the movement. She cites her parents as her inspiration but it is not mentioned in the programme that they were part of the Lehi movement, responsible for Zionist terrorism during the British mandate era.
Weiss describes the process through which she says the “state of Israel” has been built. This involves settlers starting small colonies called “outposts.” She says that Israeli governments cannot be seen to be approving these outposts in the West Bank and Gaza (for political reasons), but her movement continues to ensure they expand, eventually leading to formal recognition by the government as “settlements.”
Even though this is not an official government project, the documentary clearly shows that it is fully backed by military protection for the settlers. It also contains admissions by the settlers themselves that they believe the Palestinian people are not a “legitimate people,” as well as their determination to colonise Gaza post-genocide, and even the approval of Israeli government officials for this effort.
In a review written by the Guardian newspaper there was a small criticism that more focus was not given to Israeli protesters who did not share the ethno-nationalist supremacist vision of the settlers. The Guardian apparently thought he should have showed that this was a problem of individuals rather than something systemic.
Sadly, their view is incorrect as opinion polls clearly show that the destructive Zionist view is the dominant one throughout the society and that it is these positive voices which are few and far between.
Palestinian perspective
Footage in the documentary from Hebron and elsewhere taken from the Palestinian perspective shows how the settlement process intimidates and restricts the daily lives of people who have lived there for generations. I don’t think I heard the word “apartheid” during the whole programme, but it was displayed for us all too clearly.
The Israeli occupying troops had obviously had some PR training. They were very polite to the visiting journalist from the UK when they asked for his passport and why he was filming. But after he asked them questions about what their work entailed they found themselves embarrassed walked away.
But Theroux witnessed the intimidation from these occupying troops who would visit Palestinian villages late at night, shining laser lights from their rifles into their building to the point that the documentary makers were obviously fearful. The Palestinian residents, however, did not look scared because they explained that they had grown up with this all their lives.
It is not often that I will say this about any programme on the BBC, but I would urge everyone who wants to understand the nature of the settler colonial occupation of Palestine, and the ethnic cleansing it entails, to watch this programme and to encourage others to do so.
Abdul Wahid has been active in Muslim affairs in the UK for over 25 years. He has been published on the websites of Foreign Policy, Open Democracy, the Times Higher Educational Supplement, and Prospect Magazine. You can follow him on X/Twitter @AbdulWahid_X.
You can watch The Settlers on BBC I Player here.
