Israeli general praises illegal outposts driving Palestinian ethnic cleansing
The Israeli military commander responsible for the occupied West Bank has praised illegal settler outposts as security assets, laying bare the state support behind a network instrumental in the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from their land.
Major-General Avi Bluth, head of Israel’s Central Command, told a conference organised by the Farm Union on Wednesday that the agricultural outposts “align well with the security concept. It does not contradict it”.
“It integrates with it, provided that this is also reflected in operational conduct, as well as ethical conduct, and in accordance with the law,” he said.
Like every Israeli settlement in the occupied Palestinian territory, the outposts are illegal under international law. They are also illegal under Israeli law.
"This indicates a complete submersion of settlements and these farms, as he calls them, but what they are violent, radical posts, they're not even outposts, they are posts, and as he says, they serve the IDF [Israeli army] agendas in that they control the tactical territory that the IDF can't," said Ori Goldberg, an independent Israeli analyst and political commentator speaking to Middle East Eye.
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Bluth, himself a settler, went further.
“All of this greatly strengthens security,” the commander said. “I have great faith in the people here. I look each and every one of you straight in the eye. I love you, I appreciate you and I appreciate what you do.”
One message in English, another in Hebrew
The remarks also puncture Israel’s carefully managed narrative abroad. When addressing international audiences, Israeli leaders depict violent settlers as an unruly fringe.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has described attackers as “a small minority” who do not represent the wider settler population.
In Hebrew, however, a senior general publicly embraced the outposts as partners in Israel’s security system.
"These [outposts] are the ones who've been conducting the pogroms against the Palestinians, the ones who play a key role in the attempt to perform the ethnic cleansing that's being carried out in the West Bank," Goldberg said.
The "farming outposts" allow a handful of settlers to seize vast areas by grazing livestock across Palestinian land, blocking shepherds from pastures and subjecting neighbouring villages to sustained attacks and intimidation.
A report published on 7 July by the Israeli advocacy and research groups Peace Now and Kerem Navot said violence and harassment linked to 120 "farming outposts" established since October 2023 had displaced 118 Palestinian communities.
Netanyahu’s government has supplied the outposts with equipment and livestock subsidies while working to legalise them retroactively.
Amnesty International has described the expulsions as a state-driven campaign of ethnic cleansing, rejecting attempts to blame isolated settlers or extremist ministers.
Its investigation found that settler farms operate as a strategic tool for dispossessing Palestinian herding communities and expanding Israeli control over occupied land.
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