The first erroneous claim in a Times article by foreign correspondent Marc Bennetts (“How Israeli settlers see life in the West Bank:‘This land is ours’”, June 29) appears in the second paragraph.
Migdal Oz, with a population of about 500, was built almost 50 years ago on a plateau in the West Bank, the Palestinian territory that has been occupied by Israel since 1967.
First, Migdal Oz, though established as an Israeli Kibbutz in 1977, was built on the site of Migdal Eder, a village established in 1927 on land first inhabited by Jews during the Second Temple period. Migdal Eder was destroyed during the 1929 Arab Riots, but was re-established as Kfar Etzion in 1934. It was again destroyed during the Arab Riots of 1936-39. It was re-established a third time in 1943, but, five years later, suffered the same fate as the previous attempts, this time at the hands of Arab forces early during Israel’s War of Independence.
So, the community was not built on “Palestinian territory”.
However, the wording of the article falsely suggests not only that Migdal Oz is ‘Palestinian’, but that all of Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) is Palestinian territory. Omitted is the fact that from 1949-1967, the West Bank was illegally occupied by Jordan, which complicates the desired narrative which demands erasing the pre-1967 history of the contested territory.
Further into the article, after two residents of Migdal Oz are quoted saying that, despite the dangers, they are committed for ideological and religious reasons to remain on the land, readers are fed more misinformation:
The religious and political convictions voiced by residents of Migdal Oz are at the heart of what is driving Israel’s latest round of expansion across the West Bank, as well as a surge in deadly violence against Palestinians.
Israeli troops and extremist settlers have killed more than 950 Palestinians, among them 200 children, in the West Bank since October 2023, according to the United Nations. The killings go unpunished in the vast majority of cases. About 40 Israelis have been killed in the same period, government officials say.
First, Bennetts vastly understates the impact of Palestinian terror. According to data from the Israel Security Agency (ISA), between Oct. 7, 2023 and the end of April 2025 there were 8,670 terrorist attacks in the West Bank, which killed 64 Israelis and injured 484.
Further, while there certainly has been a big spike in settler violence since Oct. 7th, the overwhelming majority of Palestinians killed since that date have been terrorists, or those involved with violent clashes with soldiers. According to the IDF, only 4% of Palestinian fatalities during this time frame were civilians who were not terrorists, gunmen or rioters who clashed with troops or carried out attacks.
The Times journalist introduces more distortions, writing that “Last July, Itamar Ben-Gvir, the national security minister, approved the distribution of 120,000 firearms to settlers“.
First, Ben-Gvir did not “approve the distribution of 120,000 firearms to settlers”, a claim that seems to be based on false reports from the Turkish media.
The truth is that, according to the National Security Ministry’s testimony to the Knesset, Israelis have submitted over 403,000 requests for firearms licenses since October 7. Of these requests, 217,000 received conditional approvals, and 165,000 permanent licenses have been granted. (177,000 applications were rejected.)
As there were no reports concerning the geographical breakdown of the licenses granted, it’s impossible to know the following: 1) how many settlers are among the 165,000 Israelis who were granted licenses. 2) How many Israelis who received permits actually purchased firearms. 3) How many of those who purchased firearms live in settlements.
Later in the piece, readers are warned that “the increase in settler violence has sparked concerns that [the] government could seek to exploit tensions to justify a military campaign in the West Bank”. The journalist is evidently unaware that, in January, the IDF launched an anti-terror operation that’s still ongoing, called “Iron Wall”. Its goal is not to “exploit tensions”, but targets Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, and other armed groups in the territory responsible for an increase in terrorism that began well before Oct. 7, 2023.
Bennetts then uncritically quotes Palestinian political figure Mustafa Barghouti warning that Israel is planning on committing “ethnic cleansing” in the West Bank, while failing to inform readers of Barghouti’s own support for ethnic cleansing. For instance, he referred to the Oct. 7 massacre as “a glorious day for the Palestinian resistance and people”.
The journalist’s whitewash of Barghouti’s extremism is illustrative of the completely one-sided nature of the piece. In over 1,500 words of text, not one Palestinian is portrayed negatively, while the Jewish residents of Migdal Oz and the Israeli politicians who Bennetts focuses on come across as religious or ideological zealots.
Finally, a glance at Bennetts’ X account shows that his reporting appears to have been motivated by an animosity towards Israel. For instance, on the same day his Times piece was published, he reposted defenses of Bob Vylan’s near-universally condemned chanting of “Death to the IDF” at Glastonbury – including this repulsive post by Owen Jones accusing Israel’s army of “incinerating children”.
Also, a mere week after the Oct. 7th massacre, he was already vilifying Israel – comparing Israel, and not Hamas, to Russia, in condemning the “slaughter of civilians”.
Given his error-ridden reporting and egregious ideological biases, it should be clear to Times editors that Marc Bennetts is the last person who should be assigned to report about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
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