Data from the IDF Central Command paints a complex picture regarding Jewish violence against West Bank Palestinians since the start of the war as compared to 2022-2023 and before 2022, The Jerusalem Post has learned.
On one hand, the data shows there is no significant increase in the volume of Jewish violence against Palestinians post-October 7,whether immediately prior or even for much of 2023.
This point led right-wing figures to claim in an article on Sunday in Yediot Aharonot, which first reported the leaked data, that US, global, and Israeli defense officials are exaggerating the extent of Jewish violence against Palestinians.
On the other hand, IDF sources said Jewish violence against Palestinians was already unusually high in 2023, and even in 2022, compared to previous years.
In other words, if there has not been an increase in the number of Jewish attacks against West Bank Palestinians since the Israel-Hamas war, it is mostly because the level of violence was already historically high.
Post-Hamas attacks sees rise in violence
However, IDF sources told the Post that the “significant violent acts” by Jews against Palestinians has been higher during the war even in comparison to months before October 7, when there were some major violent attacks, like the mass attack on Huwara in February, but there were also less violent “price tag” attacks that “only” damaged Palestinian property.
Moreover, sources said that not all Jewish violence is included in the report or leads to a criminal probe.
For example, there have been incidents where several Jews, with their faces covered, fired on a Palestinian village, and the Palestinians reported multiple dead Palestinians, but neither the IDF nor other law enforcement agencies have been able to substantiate the incident or advance a criminal probe against individuals they cannot identify.
Questioned about how the data was leaked, sources hinted that there are political officials with interests connected to aggressive ideology against the Palestinians, who received the data.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and some of his staff are only one group of hard-right officials and their staff who might have access to such data.
According to the data, there were 32 incidents of nationalistic violence against Palestinians the week before October 7, and 24 incidents the week after.
Other weeks since then ranged from 10 to 38 incidents, with the number of incidents going both up and down depending on the week.
However, all of these numbers are unusually high if compared to the period before 2022.
In March 2022, Palestinians from the West Bank initiated a series of waves of terror, which continued all through the current war.
Sources said that Jewish violence, including sometimes acts of terror, spiked considerably once Palestinian terror spiked, though the frequency of Palestinian attacks is still much higher, up to several hundred a year.