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Louis Theroux: The Settlers

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Louis Theroux: The Settlers
Directed byJosh Baker
Written byLouis Theroux
Produced by
  • Sara Obeidat
  • Matan Cohen
StarringLouis Theroux
Production
companies
Distributed byBBC
Release date
  • April 27, 2025 (2025-04-27)[1]
Running time
61 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

Louis Theroux: The Settlers is a 2025 BBC documentary film by Louis Theroux about illegal Israeli settlers in the West Bank and the movement for Israeli settlement of the Gaza Strip during the Gaza war. The film features interviews with Palestinians and Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, including prominent far-right Zionist settler Daniella Weiss. The film is a part of Louis Theroux's BBC Two specials.

Background

Israeli occupation of the West Bank

These paragraphs are an excerpt from Israeli occupation of the West Bank.[edit]

The West Bank, including East Jerusalem, has been under military occupation by Israel since 7 June 1967, when Israeli forces captured the territory, then ruled by Jordan, during the Six-Day War.[a] The West Bank is part of the state of Palestine, and its status as a militarily occupied territory has been affirmed by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and, with the exception of East Jerusalem, by the Israeli Supreme Court.[2] The West Bank, excepting East Jerusalem, is administered by the Israeli Civil Administration, a branch of the Israeli Ministry of Defense.[3][4][b] Considered to be a classic example of an "intractable conflict",[7][c] Israel's occupation is now the longest in modern history.[8][d][9][10] Though its occupation is illegal,[e] Israel has cited several reasons for retaining the West Bank within its ambit: historic rights stemming from the Balfour Declaration; security grounds, both internal and external; and the area's symbolic value for Jews.[11]

Israel has controversially, and in contravention of international law, established numerous Jewish settlements throughout the West Bank.[12] The United Nations Security Council has repeatedly affirmed that settlements in that territory are a "flagrant violation of international law", most recently in 2016 with United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334.[13] The ICJ has also found that the establishment of Israeli settlements is illegal under international law.[14] The creation and ongoing expansion of the settlements have led to Israel's policies being criticized as an example of settler colonialism.[15][16][17][18][19][f]

Israel has been accused of major violations of international human rights law, including collective punishment, in its administration of the occupied Palestinian territories.[g] Israeli settlers and civilians living or traveling through the West Bank are subject to Israeli law, and are represented in the Knesset; in contrast, Palestinian civilians, mostly confined to scattered enclaves, are subject to martial law and are not permitted to vote in Israel's national elections.[h] This two-tiered system has caused Israel to be accused of committing apartheid, a charge that Israel rejects entirely.[25][i][26][27][28] Israel's vast military superiority, with a modern army and air force, compared to the Palestinian use of guerrilla tactics, has led to accusations of war crimes on both sides, with Israel being accused of disproportionality and the Palestinians accused of indiscriminate attacks.

The occupation also has numerous critics within Israel itself, with some Israeli conscripts refusing to serve due to their objections to the occupation.[29] The legal status of the occupation itself, and not just the actions taken as a part of it, have been increasingly scrutinized by the international community and by scholars in the field of international law, with most finding that regardless of whether the occupation had been legal when it began, it has become illegal over time.[30][page needed][31][page needed][j]

Israeli settlements

These paragraphs are an excerpt from Israeli settlement.[edit]

The Ultra Zionists (2011)

Main article: The Ultra Zionists

14 years before The Settlers, Louis Theroux made the 2011 documentary The Ultra Zionists; it was similarly centred on Israeli settlers in the West Bank.[32][33]

Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone (2025)

Main article: Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone

Earlier in 2025, the BBC had released and subsequently pulled a separate documentary on the effect of the Gaza war on children in the Gaza Strip in Palestine titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone. It was pulled after it was reported that the child who narrated the film was the son of the deputy minister for agriculture in the ruling Hamas administration.[34]

Production

The film's creation was announced on 10 February 2025. It was commissioned by the BBC's Head of Documentary Commissioning Clare Sillery. It was directed by Josh Baker with senior producer Sara Obeidat, producer Matan Cohen, production manager Emily Wallace, and executive producers Fiona Stourton and Arron Fellows.[32]

Louis Theroux travelled to the West Bank for three weeks in late 2024 to film the documentary. He characterised his style of documentary film making as "perpetrator focused".[35] Describing his intentions when creating the film, he wrote:

My aim was to observe [Israeli ultra-nationalist settlers] up close, to try to understand their mind-set and their actions, and to get a sense of the impact of their presence on the lives of the millions of Palestinians who live in the region.[35]

Synopsis

In the documentary, Theroux interviews and observes both Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank and members of the Israeli settler movement. Theroux interviews Ari Abramowitz, an Israeli settler from Texas, United States.[36][37]

He speaks with and follows prominent far-right Zionist settler Daniella Weiss as she holds meetings of groups aiming to reoccupy the Gaza Strip and makes an attempt to enter the territory herself.[33][38] During the film, she claims to have recruited 800 Israeli families to become future settlers in the Gaza Strip; she also claims that the movement has the support of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who she says is unable to express it publicly.[38]

Theroux meets Malkiel Bar-Hai, a founder of the settlement Evyatar.[37][39]

He talks to and travels through the occupied Palestinian city of Hebron with Issa Amro, a Palestinian activist, navigating through IDF checkpoints and around areas in which Amro and other Palestinians are not allowed.[40][41]

While Theroux is with Mohammad Hureini, a Palestinian activist living under Israeli occupation in Masafer Yatta, Hureini, his crew, and him have to hide in a building as Israeli soldiers point guns and laser sights at them.[37][42]

Reception and Aftermath

Stuart Heritage, writing for The Guardian, frames the film as a comeback for Theroux after his perceived downturn post-COVID-19 pandemic, describing it as a "true watershed moment in his career".[33] He rated it 5 out of 5 stars,[33] as did Gerard Gilbert of The i Paper who described it as "among his best".[37] William Mullally, who similarly rated it a '5/5', of The National wrote that it "has the chance to change hearts and minds around the world" because of Theroux's positive reputation and BBC platform.[43]

In an opinion piece for Middle East Eye, Peter Oborne said that the art of the film was in how it almost exclusively used the words of Israeli settlers themselves to illustrate their "inhumanity" and ethno-nationalist beliefs, but also criticised Theroux for what he viewed as omissions, notably in not using the word apartheid.[44]

Dan Einav of the Financial Times,[45] Phil Harrison of The Independent,[36][46] and Carol Midgley of The Times rated it 4 out of 5 stars.[47]

Reactions to the film on social media were generally positive.[48][46][49]

Mohammad Hureini

In an opinion piece published on 6 May 2025 by Mondoweiss, Mohammad Hureini, one of the Palestinians featured in The Settlers, criticised the documentary for leaving out parts they filmed where he explained his family's history dating back to the Nakba and his view of what he calls the "ongoing Nakba" from the final film, describing it as a "crucial part" of his story as a Palestinian.[42]

BBC’s choice was clear: to frame the situation as a present day political disagreement rather than the continuation of a decades-long campaign to displace and erase an entire people.[42]

He characterised its exclusion as "sanitiz[ing]" and "dull[ing] the impact" of Palestinians stories. He wrote,

It’s as if they wanted to show the surface of the crisis, without digging into its roots; as if they feared that exposing the full truth about settler colonialism, ethnic cleansing, and the enduring legacy of the Nakba would make viewers uncomfortable. Well, it should make them uncomfortable.[42]

Raid on the home of Issa Amro

In May 2025, after the film's release, Issa Amro stated in a post on Twitter that his home in Hebron was raided and robbed by Israeli soldiers and settlers in retaliation for his participation in the documentary.[50] His post included videos of settlers forcing themselves onto his property and soldiers with their faces covered by balaclavas.[51] Amro said that Israeli police told him not to file a report and threatened him with arrest.[52] Theroux retweeted Amro's post on his own Twitter page, saying that his team had been in contact with Amro since the documentary and were "monitor[ing] the situation".[51]

See also

  • No Other Land, 2024 Palestinian documentary on resistance to the Israeli occupation and forced displacement of Palestinians in Masafer Yatta

Notes

  1. ^ On 7 June 1967, Israel issued "Proclamation Regarding Law and Administration (The West Bank Area) (No. 2)—1967" which established the military government in the West Bank and granted the commander of the area full legislative, executive, and judicial power. The proclamation kept in force local law that existed on 7 June 1967, except where contradicted by any new proclamation or military order (Weill 2007, p. 401; Weill 2014, p. 19)
  2. ^ Jordan claimed it had a provisional sovereignty over the West Bank, a claim revoked in 1988 when it accepted the Palestinian National Council's declaration of statehood in that year. Israel did not accept this passage of a claim to sovereignty, nor asserted its counterclaim, holding that the Palestinian claim of sovereignty is incompatible with the fact that Israel is, in law, a belligerent occupant of the territory.[5] Secondly it regards the West Bank as a disputed territory on the technical argument that the Fourth Geneva Convention's stipulations do not apply since, in its view, the legal status of the territory is sui generis and not covered by international law, a position rejected by the International Court of Justice (ICJ).[6]
  3. ^ "The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is as prototypical case of a conflict which meets the criteria describing an intractable conflict: it is prolonged, irreconcilable, violent and perceived as having zero-game nature and total." (Shaked 2016, p. 134)
  4. ^ "Decisions of the Israeli Supreme Court have held that the Israeli occupation of the territories has endured far longer than any occupation contemplated by the drafters of the rules of international law." (Lazar 1990, p. 7)
  5. ^ The International Court of Justice has rejected the Israeli view that the territory is not occupied and ruled that Israel's "continued presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory is unlawful" (International Court of Justice 2024).
  6. ^ The Hebrew word for Jewish settlement across the Green Line is hitnakhalut[20] and for "settlers", mitnakhalim implying an inheritance (nakhal),[21] whereas the contemporary Palestinian Arabic term for them, mustawtinin, etymologically suggests those who have taken root, or indigenized natives,[22] a term that historically has not borne negative connotations. "There was nothing derogatory or prejudicial in the use of the term al-mustawtinin, nor did it apply to Jews alone. It could refer equally to any Muslim who had recently taken up residence in Jerusalem but who had been born elsewhere within the Empire".[23] Down to 1948, Palestinians called Zionist settlements (but not traditional Jewish communities such as those in Hebron, Tiberias and Jerusalem whose residents were often called Yahud awlad Arab, "Arab Jews/Jews who are the sons of Arabs") kubaniya (companies) or musta'amara/mustawtana only in the written language, and settlers khawaja (master, foreigner), musta'amara (colony, implying invasion and musta'amarin (colonizers) entered colloquial usage after 1948. From 1967 to 1993, al-mustawtin ("one who has turned the land into his homeland") and al mustawtana came to the fore to denote, respectively, settlers and settlements in the West Bank and Gaza.[24]
  7. ^ "At least five categories of major violations of international human rights law and humanitarian law characterize the occupation: unlawful killings; forced displacement; abusive detention; the closure of the Gaza Strip and other unjustified restrictions on movement; and the development of settlements, along with the accompanying discriminatory policies that disadvantage Palestinians" (HRW 2017a).
  8. ^ While Arab citizens of Israel, most of whom are ethnically Palestinian, can vote in Israeli national elections and live under civilian, not military, rule, very few live in the West Bank settlements, whose funding and purpose is directed at promoting Jewish residency.
  9. ^ Julie Peteet also argues that there is an Israeli narrative of exceptionalism which works to "exempt" it from such comparisons (Peteet 2016, p. 249).
  10. ^ "even if the occupation was not illegal ab initio, it has been rendered illegal over time for being in violation of the aforementioned jus cogens norms." (Imseis 2023, pp. 197, 215)

References

  1. ^ Cormack, Morgan (15 April 2025). "Louis Theroux's West Bank documentary The Settlers release date confirmed". Radio Times. Retrieved 28 April 2025.
  2. ^ Domb 2007, pp. 511–513.
  3. ^ Benvenisti 2012, pp. 208–209.
  4. ^ Kimmerling 2003, p. 78, n.17.
  5. ^ Quigley 2009, pp. 47–48.
  6. ^ Dinstein 2009, pp. 20–21.
  7. ^ Bar-Tal & Alon 2017, p. 317.
  8. ^ Roberts 1990, p. 44.
  9. ^ Karayanni 2014, p. xv.
  10. ^ Hajjar 2005, p. 2.
  11. ^ Rathbun 2014, p. 205.
  12. ^ Kumaraswamy 2015, p. 409.
  13. ^ UNSC 2016.
  14. ^ Beaumont 2024.
  15. ^ Reuveny 2008, pp. 325–374.
  16. ^ Shafir 1984, p. 803.
  17. ^ Lentin 2018, p. 55.
  18. ^ Handel 2014, p. 505.
  19. ^ Zureik 2015, p. 51.
  20. ^ Ghanim 2017, p. 158.
  21. ^ Chalom 2014, p. 55.
  22. ^ Sharkey 2003, p. 34.
  23. ^ Cohen 1984, p. 2.
  24. ^ Ghanim 2017, pp. 154–158.
  25. ^ Zureik 2015, pp. 77–78.
  26. ^ Adam & Moodley 2005, pp. 19ff, 59ff.
  27. ^ Chappell 2022.
  28. ^ Holmes 2021.
  29. ^ Kidron 2013, p. 18.
  30. ^ Erakat 2019.
  31. ^ Finkelstein 2018.
  32. ^ a b Goldbart, Max (10 February 2025). "Louis Theroux Returning To The West Bank For Latest BBC Documentary". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on 3 April 2025. Retrieved 28 April 2025.
  33. ^ a b c d Heritage, Stuart (27 April 2025). "The Settlers review – this vital film forces Louis Theroux to do something he's never done before". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 27 April 2025.
  34. ^ "Documentary on Israeli settlers in occupied West Bank triggers online firestorm". Middle East Eye. Archived from the original on 30 April 2025. Retrieved 1 May 2025.
  35. ^ a b Theroux, Louis (23 April 2025). "Louis Theroux On Returning To The West Bank After 15 Years For BBC Doc 'The Settlers' & Being "Perpetrator Focused" — Guest Column". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on 30 April 2025. Retrieved 28 April 2025.
  36. ^ a b "Louis Theroux: The Settlers paints a grim picture of life in the West Bank". The Independent. 27 April 2025. Retrieved 27 April 2025.
  37. ^ a b c d Gilbert, Gerard (27 April 2025). "The Settlers is Louis Theroux at his shocking best". The i Paper. Archived from the original on 27 April 2025. Retrieved 27 April 2025.
  38. ^ a b "Louis Theroux exposes Israeli occupation: Five key takeaways from 'The Settlers'". The New Arab. 28 April 2025. Archived from the original on 28 April 2025. Retrieved 28 April 2025.
  39. ^ Shehadi, Sebastian. "Louis Theroux's The Settlers shows the violence at Israel's core". The New Arab. Archived from the original on 5 May 2025. Retrieved 7 May 2025.
  40. ^ Cooke, Rachel (27 April 2025). "Louis Theroux: The Settlers is a deathly warning". New Statesman. Retrieved 28 April 2025.
  41. ^ O'Cearbhaill, Muiris (28 April 2025). "Louis Theroux explains why he made his new film about Israeli settlements in the West Bank". TheJournal.ie. Archived from the original on 29 April 2025. Retrieved 28 April 2025.
  42. ^ a b c d Hureini, Mohammad (6 May 2025). "I was in the BBC documentary 'The Settlers.' This is the part of my story they didn't tell". Mondoweiss. Archived from the original on 6 May 2025. Retrieved 6 May 2025.
  43. ^ Mullally, William. "The Settlers review: Louis Theroux's urgent documentary lays bare plans to annex Gaza". The National. Archived from the original on 30 April 2025. Retrieved 1 May 2025.
  44. ^ Oborne, Peter. "Louis Theroux forces Britain to face uncomfortable truth of Israeli settler barbarism". Middle East Eye. Archived from the original on 1 May 2025. Retrieved 1 May 2025.
  45. ^ Einav, Dan (25 April 2025). "The Settlers TV review - Louis Theroux returns to the West Bank in potent BBC documentary". Financial Times. Retrieved 27 April 2025.
  46. ^ a b "Louis Theroux praised for TV return in 'masterpiece' documentary". The Independent. 28 April 2025. Retrieved 28 April 2025.
  47. ^ Midgley, Carol (27 April 2025). "Louis Theroux: The Settlers review — going toe to toe with extreme ideology". The Times. Archived from the original on 28 April 2025. Retrieved 28 April 2025.
  48. ^ "Who is Louis Theroux, the director of the viral documentary series, 'The Settlers'?". The Times of India. 30 April 2025. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 1 May 2025.
  49. ^ "Documentary on Israeli settlers in occupied West Bank triggers online firestorm". Middle East Eye. Retrieved 1 May 2025.
  50. ^ "Israeli soldiers and settlers raid home of Hebron activist for participation in BBC film". Middle East Eye. Archived from the original on 5 May 2025. Retrieved 5 May 2025.
  51. ^ a b Pearce, Matthew (5 May 2025). "Palestinian activist says home raided 'in revenge' for appearing in Louis Theroux documentary". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 5 May 2025.
  52. ^ "Israeli soldiers, settlers harass Palestinian activist featured in BBC film". Al Jazeera. Archived from the original on 5 May 2025. Retrieved 5 May 2025.

Sources


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