Famed documentarian Louis Theroux was commissioned by the BBC to record a documentary on the “extreme” Jewish settlers living in the West Bank, the BBC announced on Monday.
The documentary will air on BBC iPlayer and BBC Two.
The BBC announcement claimed that, following Hamas’s October 7 attacks on southern Israel, “the settlers have been emboldened to expand their areas of control by pursuing a campaign of violence and forced expulsion against local Palestinian communities. What was once a fringe movement has now won support at the highest levels of the government, with their supporters holding key positions in cabinet and able to influence not only the role the military plays but also the future of this conflict.”
Since the attacks, Israel has faced an increased terror threat from the West Bank. Both the Palestinian Authority and the IDF have raided Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad strongholds in the West Bank.
Inhabiting the West Bank
Alluding to figures published by the Hamas-run Palestinian Health Ministry, the BBC makes the uncited claim that 47,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza - with settlers “making plans to move into that (West Bank) territory too.”
517,407 Israelis live in settlements as of 2023, the Associated Press reported, citing the pro-settler group WestBankJewishPopulationStats.com - although Theroux said his documentary would focus only on those on the "extreme end."
Theroux said, “In 2010, I made a programme called 'The Ultra-Zionists' that looked at the extreme end of the Israeli settler community in the West Bank.
“Since then, those same extreme settlers are even more emboldened. I’m interested in ideologues and fundamentalists of all stripes. In going back to the West Bank, I wanted to see settler expansionism up close, and the human cost it entails. It’s a story specific to a time and a place and a region, but it’s also a universal insight into tribalism and the ways in which we can blind ourselves to the humanity of those around us.”
Clare Sillery, Head of Commissioning, BBC Documentaries, added, “After more than 25 years of documentary making, Louis Theroux’s appetite for tackling difficult and complex subject matters remains completely undiminished. I look forward to him bringing his humanity and curiosity to this most challenging and timely of stories.”