An Israeli television series recently depicted settler violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, including a “pogrom” on an Arab village and the brutalization of residents. The episode, from Hanoch Daum’s Keshet series, “Life Is a Difficult Age,” aired on Tuesday night, September 16, 2026, three days ago.
The show focused on “terrorists who have been brutalizing and killing Palestinians in the West Bank.” It detailed how these settler youth attacked Palestinian villagers, including an elderly man, according to Ali, a Palestinian contractor played by Nahd Basheir of Nutuk, who built Daum’s house.
Escalating Settler Violence
The episode showed Daum and his friend Rafi encountering hilltop youth on a West Bank farm. They discovered the youth had stolen a donkey from local Palestinians. Later, these same youth, with covered faces, hurled stones and Molotov cocktails at an IDF patrol.
Daum’s buddy, Rafi, played by Omer Etzion, initially praised the youth for “staying true to Jewish values by farming and building instead of playing video games all day.” This framing highlights the ideological underpinnings of the settler-colonial project, where land theft and expansion are presented as virtuous acts.
The group leader, appearing to be in his late teens, expressed extremist views. He called Daum and Rafi “Nazis” when they disagreed with him. He and his friends openly laughed about the assassination of former prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, disparaged the army, and even labeled far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir a leftist.
Complicity and Ideology
Daum’s rabbi, played by Shai Avivi, arrived on the scene and showed tolerance for the youth’s rhetoric. The episode suggested that parts of the settlement movement have not only tolerated but actively “nurtured these extremists in their midst.” This complicity allows settler violence to persist and escalate in the occupied territories.
Ali, the Palestinian contractor, reported that the settler youth had carried out a “pogrom on an Arab village” where he lives. This direct testimony from a Palestinian resident underscores the severe impact of settler aggression on daily life and security.
Internal Divisions in the Settler Project
When the youth turned on Daum after he appealed to the rabbi to calm them, Daum addressed the camera directly. He described the masked individuals as “evil” and “masked terrorists,” asserting they “do not represent what the settlement movement is about.”
Daum, identifying himself as a settler, stated, “I am a settler, so are my family, my neighbors, and my friends. These are good people, really good people, law-abiding and tax-paying; they do military reserve duty.” He claimed this “tiny, anarchistic, extremist minority is not who we are,” adding, “We must shun them mainly because they simply do terrible and horrible things.” This statement attempts to distance the broader settler population from the most extreme elements, yet it simultaneously affirms the legitimacy of the settler presence in the occupied West Bank.
Beyond this specific episode, Daum’s show generally portrays his life in the West Bank as “quite ordinary.” He is also collaborating with Noemie to produce a movie, drawing inspiration from Francois Truffaut’s “Day for Night.”