What Matters Now1 Jul 2025

What Matters Now to Haviv Rettig Gur: When Israeli extremists go to war - against Israel

Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World, with host Amanda Borschel-Dan speaking with senior analyst Haviv Rettig Gur.

Dozens of Jewish extremists set fire to a security installation and rioted outside a West Bank base overnight Sunday-Monday, days after an officer in the Israel Defense Forces was assaulted by settlers, who threw rocks and attempted to harm other IDF soldiers.

If there’s one institution that a majority of Israelis still get behind, it’s the IDF. So this attack, to many, was a wake-up call to the bubbling issue of settler extremists.

In this week's What Matters Now, Rettig Gur describes the origins of the settler movement and how there were several visions that at times competed with each other -- and overlapped.

He explains how the extremists who are repeatedly attacking neighboring Palestinian villages -- and now IDF soldiers -- are disenfranchised and largely shunned by the diverse settler communities.

And we learn how politicians, some of whom serve as role models for these "hilltop youth" -- are finally also waking up to the problem. But while the leaders are changing their tunes, the youth are no longer listening.

And so this week, we ask Haviv Rettig Gur, what matters now.

What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves and video edited by Thomas Girsch.

IMAGE: Illustrative: Young Jewish protesters throw rocks as Israeli police forces arrive at the illegal outpost of Amona, on February 1, 2017, on the morning of the settlement's evacuation. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)

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