# Hilltop Youth

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Hilltop Youth (Hebrew: נוער הגבעות, No'ar HaGva'ot) are extremist Hardal settler youth operating in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. They are known for establishing outposts without an Israeli legal basis and conducting settler violence against Palestinians there.

## Overview

The movement is based on the ideology of Kahanism, which advocates for the expulsion of Palestinian Arabs from both Israel and the occupied territories. Members linked to the group have engaged in Israeli settler violence against Palestinians, as well as against Israeli soldiers.
The acts of settler violence includes vandalism of Palestinian schools and mosques, stealing sheep from Palestinian flocks and the destruction of their centuries-old olive groves, or stealing their olive harvests. In the most notable attack, members of the groups perpetrated the 2015 Duma arson attack against a Palestinian family, burning their 18-month-old baby alive and injuring the parents. Though the group has no strict hierarchy Israeli authorities believe Meir Ettinger to be its leader.
In 2024, following rising settler attacks, the European Union put Hilltop Youth as well as the related Lehava groups on its asset freeze and visa bans, declaring them to be extremist organizations.

## Origins

On 16 November 1998, in what was viewed as a declaration intended to thwart peace talks, and in particular the implementation of his political rival Benjamin Netanyahu's Wye River agreement with the Palestinian National Authority, the then-Israeli Defense Minister Ariel Sharon urged settler youth to "grab the hilltops", adding,
   "Everyone that's there should move, should run, should grab more hills, expand the territory. Everything that's grabbed will be in our hands. Everything we don't grab will be in their hands."
People proceeded to heed his exhortation and outposts proliferated, in a practice often called "creating facts on the ground", but many would later feel betrayed by Sharon when the Israeli West Bank barrier he devised in 2005 cut off many of the illegal communities from the expanded Israel Sharon envisaged at that time.
The example of figures like Netanel Ozeri, who moved his family out of the safety of Kiryat Arba's perimeters to build an outpost, Hilltop 26, on nearby Palestinian land, was also important: Ozeri was later shot dead by Palestinian gunmen.

## Influences

According to terrorism expert Ami Pedahzur, ideologically, Hilltop Youth espouse a Kahanist worldview, favouring "deportation, revenge, and annihilation of Gentiles that posed a threat to the people of Israel".
The youth are influenced by religious Zionist ideals, which include a dedication to building and farming the land, as well as devoting time to learning Torah. Many have studied in the Od Yosef Chai yeshiva under Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh, who developed the metaphor comparing Israel to a "nut" which had to be cracked in order to allow the fruit, the people, out. In addition to basing their ideals on the teachings of prominent rabbis such as Avraham Yitzchak Kook and Rabbi Shmuel Tal, some regard Avri Ran as a spiritual leader, or "father", of the movement, though he does not see himself as such. The philosophy of some in the movement is expressed by a mixture of distrust of the Israeli government and a desire to re-establish the Ancient Kingdom of Israel.

### Hardal anti-Zionism

A recent ideological development has led to many Hilltop Youth rejecting Zionism due to Israeli concessions and the perceived Zionist inability to establish Jewish control over the entirety of the Land of Israel.

## About the groups

The Hilltop Youth are a "loosely organized, anarchy-minded group", of some several hundred youths around a hard core of scores of violent activists often noted for establishing illegal/disputed outposts outside existing settlements. According to Danny Rubinstein they are formed into private militias. Their numbers (2009) are estimated to be around 800, with approximately 5,000 others who share their ideological outlook. They completely dissociate themselves from Israeli institutions, and identify themselves with the Land of Israel. They settle on hilltops in areas densely crowded by Palestinians.
Members linked to the group have been accused of engaging in Israeli settler violence, including vandalism of Palestinian schools and mosques, stealing sheep from Palestinian flocks and the destruction of their centuries-old olive groves, or stealing their olive harvests. This last practice was endorsed by Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu on a visit to a hilltop outpost, Havat Gilad, where he issued a rabbinical ruling that, "The ground on which the trees are planted is the inheritance of the Jewish people, and the fruit of the plantings was seeded by the goyim in land that is not theirs." They seize land not by any official method: they claim a hilltop by setting up an encampment, and then claim the land nearby, whether under Palestinian cultivation or not, or by uprooting Palestinian trees and shooting in the air if any Palestinian comes near to the new outpost.
Settlers have long been accused of carrying out what are called "price tag attacks", a term used for targeting Palestinian property in revenge for outposts demolished by the Israeli military, although no one as yet has actually been convicted of having been involved in such vandalism.
Many of the Hilltop Youth feel that the mainstream settler movement has lost its way, opting for cheap housing close to major cities, built by local Arab labor, with tall fences and no space between their homes. The Youth often engage in organic farming and shun Palestinian labor in favor of Hebrew labor. 2.5% of eggs consumed in Israel are calculated to be produced on the outposts run by the Hilltop Youth leader Avri Ran.

## Government response

The Hilltop Youth has been condemned in the past by figures within Israel's government, with Former Defense Minister Ehud Barak referring to the group as unacceptable "homemade terror, Jewish-made terror".
The Israeli Security Agency's leader, Ronen Bar, in a August 2024 to Israeli ministers, wrote: ""The 'hilltop youth' trend has long become a bed of violent activity against Palestinians … it's the use of violence to create intimidation", to "fear monger, meaning terrorism." Such acts were now "broad, open activity", wrote Bar, now "using weapons of war. Sometimes using weapons that were distributed by the state lawfully … attacking the security forces … receiving legitimacy from certain officials in the establishment". As a result, the hilltop youth experienced "loss of fear of administrative detention due to the conditions they get in prison and the money given to them upon their release by MKs, together with legitimization and praise".

## Notable members

Meir Ettinger (born 4 October 1991), the grandson of Meir Kahane, previously resided at Ramat Migron outpost, and later the Givat Ronen outpost near Har Brakha, was subsequently deported, by administrative order, from the West Bank and Jerusalem, taking up residence with his family in Safed. He has attracted many followers and in addition to public speaking, he has published a blog at the pro-Hilltop Youth website "The Jewish Voice" (Hebrew: הקול היהודי). He was arrested for the "spy affair", when settler youths were accused of maintaining an "operation room" to monitor IDF movements and warn outpost settlers of impending evacuations. After violating his house arrest terms, he was held in jail until the end of his trial, in which he was convicted following a plea-bargain for conspiring to gather military intelligence and sentenced to time served, approximately 6 months. In August 2015, following the arson at the Church of the Multiplication in June and the Duma arson attack, he was placed under administrative arrest for 6 months, which was extended by an additional 4 months. During his incarceration, he staged a hunger strike. In June 2016, following his release, he returned to reside in Safed, and is barred by administrative order from entering the West Bank, Jerusalem, and Yad Binyamin. In addition, he is forbidden, by administrative order, from contacting 92 people.

## Sanctions

In 2024, responding to rising Israeli settler attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank, the European Union put Hilltop Youth as well as related Lehava groups on its asset freeze and visa bans, declaring them to be extremist organizations.