In a new assault on Palestinian civilians in the Israeli-occupied territories, an Israeli settler has attacked a Palestinian family with a machete.
In a video posted by Palestine Online, the Israeli settler can be seen holding a huge knife, after blocking a vehicle with his own car, and then rushing to the window of the car and wielding his machete.
In the 35-second video, the terrified child and his mother were shown sitting inside the car with the father who was filming apparently, as the Israeli settler waved his sword-like knife and yelled at them.
Various attacks on Palestinians have become a daily occurrence throughout the occupied territories, particularly in the West Bank.
It was reported that the attacker, who left the scene, was later taken into custody by the police.
However, Israeli authorities rarely prosecute Israeli settler assaults on Palestinians and their property and the vast majority of the cases are closed due to deliberate police failure to investigate properly.
In another recent similar incident of violence by settlers on Monday, a Palestinian civilian was injured after a group of Jewish settlers stormed the village of Wadi Rahal south of the West Bank city of Bethlehem. The Jewish settlers assaulted the Palestinian civilian Mohammad Ayish while he was on his land, injuring him and forcing him to abandon his land.
The Israeli human rights group B'Tselem has confirmed in several reports that Israel has for years clearly allowed its settlers to assault Palestinians and inflict damage on their property as one of its policies.
According to a detailed report issued in November 2021, the rights group said the assaults have also included the provision of military protection for the attackers, and in some cases troopers’ active participation in the assault.
“Like the violence employed against Palestinians by the military and the bureaucracy, settler violence is organized, institutionalized, well-equipped, and implemented in order to achieve a defined strategic goal,” the report said.
B'tselem also reported that it had documented a total of 451 settler attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank since early 2020, adding that in 183 cases of these attacks, Israeli military forces stood by or assisted the attackers.
Israeli occupation soldiers and Israeli settlers have noticeably been escalating their attacks against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank and other areas, in an attempt to forcibly expel Palestinians from their lands and make way for expanding Illegal Jewish-only settlements.