Share to FacebookShare to XArticle printing is available to subscribers onlyPrint in a simple, ad-free formatSubscribeComments: Zen reading is available to subscribers onlyAd-free and in a comfortable reading formatSubscribe06:10 PM • August 20 2026 IDTAfter nearly three years of masked Jewish settlers assaulting Palestinians, burning homes and farm fields, and besieging villages, the rising violence in the West Bank has finally captured the world's attention and has even made some Israelis uncomfortable. But the chaos represents only half of a wider effort, led by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich in his second and more important role as the effective minister of the West Bank, to make life miserable for West Bank Palestinians. In the NewsWorking With Government Is How We Keep Jewish Canadians Safe'It Was a Calling: Go to Israel, Meet This People. And I Went''Cannibalizing the Camp': The Petty Politics Destroying Israel's OppositionAs Hamas Rebuilds in Gaza, Israelis Across the Border Lose Faith in the IDFSettlers Set Fire to Palestinian Quarry in Southern West Bank, Reports SayRemembering and rebuilding two years laterICYMIShe's the Superstar of the Israeli Left, and She Wants PowerIDF Marks Detained Palestinians With Numbers as Northern West Bank Raids ExpandThe American Jewish Establishment Is Defending an Israel That No Longer ExistsIsrael Police Say Missing Israeli Mother and Daughter Found in ArgentinaReality Check: As the Election Nears, Haaretz Debunks Israeli Politicians' Biggest LiesSo Will It Be a Problem if Miriam Adelson Flies to Israel to Vote?