Hilltop Youth


Other names: ISIS of Israel, No’ar HaGva’ot, נוער הגבעות

Type: Far-right extremist religious-nationalist youth movement

Founded: 1998

Affiliations: Lehava and Otzma Yehudit (The Jewish Power Party)

Country: Israel

Organisation Ideology: Jewish Supremacism/Religious Zionism/Anti-Arab Fundamentalism

Founders: Avri Ran - Founding father and an undisputed symbol of the Hilltop Youth (HY) movement

Key Members: Avri Ran/Meir Ettinger


Online Resources

Official website: Hilltop Youth


Overview

The formation of Hilltop Youth (HY) Movement dates back to 1998, when Ariel Sharon, former Prime Minister of Israel, urged settlers to “grab the hilltops”, saying: “Everything that’s grabbed will be in our hands. Everything we don’t grab will be in their hands.” Such tactics were implemented as a way to invalidate the 1978 Camp David accords with Egypt, and the 1993 Oslo agreement with the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO).

HY, led by Meir Ettinger and Avri Ran, is a far-right-wing extremist and terrorist movement that has long been identified as a national security threat placed under the jurisdiction of the highest levels of law enforcement. It believes in the “Greater Land of Israel” and rejects any evacuation of settlements in the West Bank. For years, they have been active, building Jewish settlement outposts on hills in the occupied West Bank.

Hilltop members are known for carrying out attacks against Palestinians civilians, Jewish peace activists, as well as soldiers and officers of the Israeli Military. In a documentary produced by Al Jazeera, Hilltop’s Kahanist fellows clearly claim that Jews are God's chosen nation to fulfill the commandment of killing and eradicating the Arab people from Palestine, as they believe that the Holy Land belongs solely to Jews.

In an interview with The Times of Israel, Menachem Lev, Chairman of Beit El Local Council’s Education Department, states that “Our thesis is that hilltop youth are essentially at-risk youth,” affirming that many of his students, who ended up on the West Bank hills, come from troubled homes or have undergone significant traumatic experiences as children.


Ties to Extremism

Hilltop settlers have been carrying out what they call “price tag attacks.” In a threatening statement, HY says that for any perceived moves by the government to limit settlement activity, they will target the Palestinians in revenge. One of the most notorious attacks was a 2015 operation carried out by HY members, who at the time were led by Meir Ettinger. The operation was an arson attack against the Palestinian Dawabshah family in Nablus that resulted in the killing of an 18-month-old Palestinian baby, who was burnt alive, while both his parents died from their injuries within weeks and a survived son, Ali, was left alone with severe burn on his body.

HY also carried out attacks against Christian holy sites in 2014. Two HY settlers firebombed the Church of Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes, located on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee. The fire damaged the Church’s roof and structure, as well as burned hundreds of religious valuable texts.


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Lehava Organization (להב"ה)