Religious Jewish Activists Counter Settler Violence with Community Performances in the West Bank

Why We Wrote This

Among Israelis participating in “protective presence”—the effort to shield West Bank Palestinians from settler attacks—members of the leftist religious group Bnei Avraham are outliers. One participant explained that they are motivated, in part, by the desire to display “another face of Judaism.”

Armed only with cellphones to document any attacks, they hope their presence can help deter violence.

Jewish activists from all backgrounds have been injured, including a pair beaten unconscious by extremist settlers last spring. Their activism on the front lines of the West Bank’s future is a rare example of Israeli‑Palestinian solidarity.

During a recent weekend, Bnei Avraham traveled to a village south of Hebron to try something different. Rather than working in fields or olive groves with adults, they brought clowns and a small circus to entertain children who, like their parents, live under the threat of settler violence.

Jerusalem lawyer Odelia Kessous, an activist with the religious group Bnei Avraham who has developed close ties with the villagers of Ar‑Rihiya, talks with children during a circus Bnei Avraham activists organized, in Ar‑Rihiya, West Bank.

“Another face of Judaism”

The gathering, which attracted more than 100 children and their parents and grandparents, was part of their effort to foster solidarity and community with Palestinian residents. To show them, as Ms. Kessous puts it, “another face of Judaism … not nationalism and racism dressed as Judaism.”

Such outreach is especially important to them as religiously observant Jews, like many settlers.

“It’s really complicated to be a leftist religious person in Israel today. Unfortunately, I feel like Judaism was hijacked by the right wing,” says Ms. Kessous, a Jerusalem‑based lawyer whose activism has become central to her life. She describes growing up with a “different Judaism, one that focused on justice, on helping the minority and those weaker in society.”

Violence by settlers against West Bank Palestinians—once occasional attacks but now nearly daily—has intensified since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas‑led assault on Israel and the ensuing Gaza war.

Human‑rights groups and Palestinians say Israel’s far‑right government bears responsibility. They attribute recent escalation to upcoming elections and an effort by settlers and their supporters, fearing a change in government, to cement as many Jewish settlements as possible before the vote.

Armed Israeli security forces stand guard as Palestinian, Israeli, and foreign activists attempt to approach a Palestinian house besieged by settlers in Qusra, West Bank, Aug. 14, 2026.

Roei Kleitman, a founder of Bnei Avraham, says the showdown in Qusra and recent violence in a neighboring village—where four Palestinians and two Israelis were killed—forms part of extremist settlers’ strategy to pressure Palestinians into “voluntary emigration.”

“They say their best offense is to attack, to keep pushing the boundaries,” he says. “They want to provoke an intifada before the elections. They want a war.”

A group and its mission

Bnei Avraham is the activist arm of a larger grassroots organization of young left‑wing religious Jews called Smol Emuni—Hebrew for “left‑wing faithful.” Its members grew up during the violence of the Second Intifada and under successive right‑wing governments, most led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, when prospects for peace seemed distant.

It was also during this period that right‑wing religious Israelis increasingly embraced the idea of Jewish redemption through expanded sovereignty over the West Bank, which they view as a biblical birthright.

Mr. Kleitman calls that notion “dangerous” because it permits terrible actions. He describes Bnei Avraham’s work as partnership—not domination—with Palestinians, calling it a “mitzvah,” a good deed, in Jewish teaching.

The Oct. 7 attacks deepened his commitment. “I had to confront a theological question: What does God require of me now?” he says.

Where some young religious Israelis in the West Bank see power and strength as the expression of Jewish security and love for Eretz Yisrael, Mr. Kleitman says, “I view partnership with Palestinians as the answer to Jewish supremacy. Engaging in protective presence feels like religious work to me.”

It also feels like a civic duty.

About two or three times a week, Bnei Avraham activists accompany Palestinian farmers in the Hebron and Bethlehem areas to their land—areas that have become hazardous because of nearby settler outposts. A good day is one in which they help farmers without incident; a difficult day is when threats of violence force them and the farmers to retreat.

They also hold “protective presence Shabbats,” spending Friday evening through Saturday evening in a Palestinian village—eating kosher food, praying, and speaking with the local community. When settlers attack on the Sabbath, as they increasingly do, the activists remain to protect the community and document the violence.

More volunteers have been signing up recently. Their ranks now total roughly 200, motivated, members say, by historical non‑violent campaigns such as the 1960s U.S. civil‑rights movement.

Path to coexistence

At Ar‑Rihiya, a cluster of modest homes perched on a steep hill, hundreds gathered for a makeshift circus under a black tarp. With few organized activities for village children—and amid rising tensions—everyone welcomed a dose of joyous distraction.

Palestinian Yusef Toubassi, a former Israeli‑based worker, stands with his family beside Bnei Avraham leader Efrat Reubinof in Ar‑Rihiya. “We must find a way to live together,” he says.

Toubassi watches as his grandson Masa looks on while children sprint by with brightly painted cheeks and clowns spin them around.

“They want coexistence between our two peoples, and we are here working with them,” he adds of Bnei Avraham, whose leaders have become familiar to him. “We must find a way to live together.”

For decades, Toubassi worked in Israel, mostly in restaurants. Since Oct. 7, five of his sons who labored in construction inside Israel have, like many Palestinians, been barred from entering.

“Pressuring workers like this will ultimately bring chaos for everyone, and we don’t want that,” he says.

Relations had been peaceful for years with residents of the nearby settlement Beit Hagai. However, in recent months settlers have taken over an olive grove that belongs to the village, Toubassi reports.

That led to an incident in May, when he and village elders attempting to reach the grove were detained by the military, handcuffed, blindfolded, and forced to lie on the ground for hours on a hot day before being released without charges.

The message, he says, is part of a broader pattern of intimidation.

Reflecting on the Jewish tradition he seeks to emulate—a contrast with some religious settlers—Mr. Kleitman says, “I identify more with the prophets. They always spoke out against the wrongs they saw in society.”

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