IDF actively supports construction of settler outposts and farms in West Bank

The Havat Nof Gilad outpost in the Jordan Rift, West Bank, in September 2025

Haaretz reports on 9 December 2025:

The IDF is fully aware and cooperating with Israeli settlers building new farm outposts in the West Bank, marking an overt shift in the Israeli military’s policy, according to an IDF officer who spoke with Israel’s Kan public broadcaster in a program aired Monday.

Since Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth was appointed to head the IDF’s Central Command in July 2024, “A formal mechanism for establishing farms in full cooperation with the command has really begun to take shape,” the lieutenant colonel told news program “Zman Emet” (Real Time).

The officer, who the report said has been involved for years in IDF activity in the West Bank, said that the command doesn’t just “know that farms are going to be established,” but that the military is “also a partner in the preliminary coordination process.”

The lieutenant colonel was said to have been taking part in the IDF’s sensitive discussions on the matter. He said that during the tenure of previous Central Command chief Yehuda Fuchs, the farms “simply popped up and were established on the ground, without the army’s knowledge or coordination. That is, they would appear in the shadows, and we were forced to accept it as a fait accompli.”

Upon Bluth taking up the position of Central Command chief, he appointed Elitzur Trabelsi, Central Command’s territorial defense officer, as the “key person” to address the issue of the farms.

“Trabelsi spares the Central Command chief from having to get his hands dirty,” the officer told Kan. “He goes, handles the matter, and gets involved in all of the plans to establish the farms. He tours the farm with the owner, interviews him. After the tour, he involves the regional brigade commander, updates him, sends out maps, and then goes to the command chief for approval – and thus the farm is established with full coordination.”

The officer said, “It’s not just tacit coordination. In the division and regional brigade, there is actually an order for ‘establishing farms on the ground.’ It details the forces allocated to secure the farm, how they are deployed and how many caravans are on the farm. He runs a completely organized process.”

The lieutenant colonel also said that for the purpose of establishing the farms, the army allocates territorial defense soldiers, settlers living in the farms or nearby communities, and reservists. According to him, at least four or five such soldiers can be found on each farm, and there are over 100 such farms in the West Bank.

“There are over 500 people here. This is a battalion dedicated solely to guarding the farms,” the officer said. He further added that the establishment of the farms creates friction, which often leads to loss of control and requires the deployment of additional forces to the area.

“You can no longer control it, and there’s this cycle: A farm is established, it creates friction, that friction generates more friction, which leads to an attack, the attack leads to the expansion of the farm, and the desire to turn it into a settlement. It’s an event that never ends,” the officer said. “The IDF is knowingly involved in an illegal activity that is not part of its role.”

In the story, “Zman Emet” also quoted a warning issued by a senior army official, sent in March of this year. In the warning, the officer said: “Since the beginning of 2024 until today, over 200 building violations have been documented in the Israeli community, including 36 new agricultural farms established on the ground, as well as several new outposts.”

He added, “Even more concerning is the fact that most of the new farms and outposts are being established and set up on the ground, allegedly with the knowledge and approval of several military officials, according to statements from those behind their establishment.”

In several processes, the senior official noted, the establishment process – including opening access roads, development work and construction – is even accompanied and secured by military personnel from the regional brigades.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, when asked by reporters whether the farms are legal, replied: “No, and we are working to make them legal.” He then corrected himself: “You know what? I’m not entirely sure they are not [legal].”

Smotrich claimed that Arab citizens of Israel build illegally on a large scale, and added: “Let’s not be hypocrites and look only at a particular sector of the settlers in Judea and Samaria,” he said, referring to the biblical name widely used by Israelis for the West Bank.

Settlement and National Missions Minister Orit Strock was also interviewed, adding: “When I said back then that we are in a ‘miraculous era,’ I referred to the authorities that we have, the authorities that Bezalel [Smotrich] holds as a minister at the Defense Ministry, which is something that never happened before, and that he controls a significant part of the Civil Administration, which is also unprecedented. And for me as well, as Minister of Settlement. The fact that we hold these positions is, in my eyes, the great miracle.”

Asked for a response to the story, the IDF said that “all actions of the command, including dealing with illegal farms and outposts and protection against terrorism, are carried out according to the situational assessment, and out of responsibility for the security of the State of Israel and the lives of all residents, regardless of their place of residence.”

In its statement, the IDF said that the past year saw “a significant decrease in the scope of terrorist incidents, resulting in part from an offensive policy of continuous entry and presence in hostile areas, targeting terrorist infrastructure, creating operational control in the area and deepening freedom of action in the territories.”

“Therefore, any attempt to claim that the farms increase terrorism is unfounded and contradicts the facts. The Central Command chief acts according to the law and the authorities defined in his role,” the IDF added. “Any decision regarding evacuation or regulation of settlements is made according to procedure, in coordination with, or with the approval of, the political echelon.”

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