Kerem Navot - Naboth’s Vineyard, POB 10276, Jerusalem (2026)

12/06/2026

Retired Judge Asher Kula has dismissed our complaint against Rabbi Avraham Zarviv, claiming that “the Office of the Ombudsman for Complaints Against Judges is not a platform for examining claims of this nature, which should be addressed by the competent judicial or regulatory authorities.” He apparently prefers to ignore the fact that he is precisely the regulatory authority responsible for examining the claims we raised.........
About two months ago, we submitted a complaint to retired Judge Asher Kula, the Ombudsman for Complaints Against Judges, concerning Rabbi Avraham Zarviv, who resides in the settlement of Beit El. As we detailed in the complaint, Zarviv lives in a house built illegally, against which a demolition order has been outstanding for 26 years. The house was built on privately owned land that Zarviv unlawfully appropriated. A link to our post on the matter appears in the comments.

On Wednesday (10.6.2026), we received Judge Kula’s response. In Section 9 of his letter, under the heading “Conclusions and Decision,” he writes:

“After a thorough review of the complaint and its attachments, the inevitable conclusion is that it is not appropriate for examination within the framework of a complaint to the Ombudsman for Complaints Against Judges. The Ombudsman is not a platform for examining claims of this nature, which should be addressed by the competent judicial or regulatory authorities. The role of the Ombudsman is to examine complaints concerning the conduct of judges and rabbinical judges, whether in the course of their duties or outside them, insofar as they relate to integrity or ethical rules, and this must be based on proven facts rather than allegations requiring extensive factual and legal examination beyond the Ombudsman’s authority. Moreover, it is puzzling that the complainant chose to submit the complaint only now, despite claiming that the events in question occurred years ago.”

A link to Judge Kula’s letter appears in the comments.

In our view, Judge Kula’s assertion that the documented allegations raised in our complaint against Zarviv should be examined by “the competent judicial or regulatory authorities” is, with all due respect, not a serious answer. It is an attempt to evade the simple fact that he is precisely the regulatory authority charged with examining such allegations.

The unfortunate—though hardly surprising—result is that a person like Zarviv, who is personally involved in illegal construction and the appropriation of property (quite apart from the alleged war crimes he documented himself committing in Gaza), continues to hold judicial office. That fact is a disgrace to the judicial system in particular and to the State of Israel in general.

08/06/2026

About 2 weeks ago, the Civil Administration issued an expropriation order for an archaeological site. It is the third expropriation Israel has carried out recently for archaeological sites that are, in practice, open only to Israelis. The model was first tested in Susya in 1986.

About two weeks ago, the Civil Administration issued yet another expropriation order for an archaeological site. This time, roughly 300 dunams were expropriated for the archaeological site of Herodium. It is the third such expropriation Israel has carried out recently for archaeological sites that are, in practice, open only to Israelis. The model is not new—it was first tested in Susya in 1986.
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On May 26, 2026, Hillel Roth, the ultra-extremist settler appointed by Smotrich to effectively run the Civil Administration, signed yet another expropriation order for an archaeological site. This time, approximately 300 dunams were expropriated “for public purposes” on behalf of Herodium. It is the third expropriation Israel has carried out in recent months for archaeological sites that are either already inaccessible to Palestinians or are intended to become Israeli-only sites in the future.

The two previous cases we recently reported on were the expropriation order through which Israel expropriated 1,800 dunams (!!!), most of them olive groves belonging to residents of the Palestinian village of Sebastia, for the development of the Sebastia archaeological site; and the order through which Israel expropriated approximately 110 dunams for the Nabi Samuel site. Links to both posts appear in the comments.

Despite the increasing use of expropriation orders for archaeological sites that are effectively open only to Israelis—a trend likely to continue in the coming months (particularly with regard to the Hasmonean Palaces site near Jericho, about which we will write soon)—this is not a new model. It was first implemented forty years ago at Khirbet Susya. Following the expropriation, the Palestinian residents were expelled, and settlers transformed the fenced archaeological site into a particularly toxic and violent center of terror, as we were reminded once again only this past March thanks to the kind assistance of the Luski family. A link to our post appears in the comments.

Between the expropriation of Susya in 1986 and the current wave of expropriations, there were three additional expropriations for archaeological sites, all of which are effectively closed to Palestinians. The sites of Deir Sam'an and Deir Qal'a, adjacent to the settlements of Leshem and Peduel, were expropriated in August 2020. The site of Archelais, north of Jericho, was expropriated and fenced off in 2023. A link to our post on the expropriation of Deir Sam'an and Deir Qal'a appears in the comments.

Returning to Herodium: about five years ago Israeli authorities fenced off the site and began restricting Palestinian access through a guard post established at the entrance. In April 2024, Israel seized 171 dunams at the same location by declaring them “state land.” Examining the map attached to the current expropriation order reveals that it overlaps perfectly with the area declared state land in April 2024, while adding another 130 dunams to the west of the previously declared area. A link to our post on the April 2024 declaration appears in the comments.

This raises an obvious question: why was there a need to expropriate land that had already been declared state land?

The answer is likely that officials in the Civil Administration realized there was little chance the state-land declaration would survive the appeals filed against it, since a substantial portion of the area declared “state land” had clearly been cultivated in the past. This stands in direct contradiction to the fundamental claim underlying every declaration of state land—that the area in question is “uncultivated.”

The expropriation of Herodium therefore serves as a bypass route, rendering the appeals process against the state-land declaration effectively irrelevant. That is what happens when there is no longer independent and professional legal oversight. At that point, whatever Smotrich wants, Smotrich gets.

A link to the Herodium expropriation order appears in the comments.

06/06/2026

On Wednesday evening, dozens of ultra-Orthodox protesters attacked the home of Deputy President of the Supreme Court, Noam Solberg, in the settlement of Alon Shvut. They smashed windows, damaged property, and vandalized his car. In the aftermath, dozens of the attackers were arrested. It was probably the largest arrest operation against Jewish rioters in the West Bank in decades.

The incident also provides an opportunity to talk about a few other things taking place in Alon Shvut that the media has not yet found the time to cover. Nor, for that matter, have the Solbergs.
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Dozens of ultra-Orthodox protesters gathered outside the home of Supreme Court Deputy President Noam Solberg in the violent and lawless settlement of Alon Shvut on Wednesday night. Solberg may well be the most conservative justice currently serving on the Supreme Court, but when it comes to efforts to compel ultra-Orthodox to serve in the military, he is viewed as an arch-activist. That is why anti-draft protesters selected him as their target.

As an aside, organizing an attack of this kind is not particularly simple. Alon Shvut, together with the settlements west of the Bethlehem–Hebron road, is effectively isolated from the rest of the West Bank by a system of checkpoints controlled by settlers. The settlement itself is fenced on three sides and saturated with cameras and sensors along the fourth. The dozens of ultra-Orthodox protesters who reached Solberg’s home therefore had to pass through at least two staffed checkpoints before arriving at their destination. That required intelligence gathering, planning, and coordination.

The attack quite rightly provoked outrage. Attacking a person—any person—in their own home is a serious matter. Suddenly everyone remembered the “rule of law.” It is a concept that, as we have written here several times, Justice Solberg is somewhat less inclined to invoke when it comes to the violent and lawless region in which he chose to make his home. To get a sense of the atmosphere prevailing in this area, we recommend reading our post from 2018 about what has been happening there. A link appears in the comments.

In the day since Solberg’s home was attacked, many have pointed out—correctly—that violence against Palestinians has become entirely normalized, due in no small part to judges like Solberg within the judicial system. But it is equally important to discuss the motivation that drives much of this violence: dispossession and plunder.

Since we published those earlier posts about the area surrounding Alon Shvut, conditions have deteriorated into a nightmare for anyone who still believes the rule of law has any meaning. In other words, a paradise for anyone interested in seizing agricultural land and building a house on it. And there is no shortage of such people in Alon Shvut.

The land grab surrounding the settlement is a direct product of the system of roadblocks and checkpoints that the army and settlers have maintained around settlements for many years, and with particular intensity since October 7. In May 2024, we published a short report titled “An Israeli Roadblock”, documenting the network of closures and barriers established around Bethlehem. The result is thousands of dunams of agricultural land that their Palestinian owners can no longer access. A link to the report appears in the comments.

All of this is happening a one- or two-minute walk from the Solberg family home in Alon Shvut. The land being taken over by settlers from Alon Shvut belongs to residents of the village of Beit Ummar, who have been entirely unable to approach it since October 7 due to the same network of checkpoints and roadblocks surrounding their community, combined with settler and military violence that Palestinians cannot avoid if they attempt to cultivate their land in the area.
And as always in such situations, there are people who know how to capitalize on this reality. A short walk through the agricultural area east of Alon Shvut is enough to witness the scale of the illegal construction boom underway there. Private homes with adjacent orchards and vineyards, newly carved roads, old Palestinian structures taken over by settlers, and even a community pool built by the settlement itself and named after a soldier killed on October 7. Anyone familiar with the West Bank knows that commemorating soldiers is one of the most effective tools for facilitating unlawful land seizures.

Justice Solberg received a very unpleasant reminder this week that there is no such thing as half a rule of law. When an entire enterprise—one of which you are not merely a participant, but one of its most committed defenders—is built on lawlessness and violence unfolding on your own doorstep, there will always be those willing to take those norms one step further and bring them directly into your home.

02/06/2026

On May 5, the Civil Administration expropriated the Nabi Samuel site under the pretext of acting for the “public benefit.” After expelling the Palestinian residents from their homes in the early 1970s, rendering the village effectively illegal by declaring some 3,300 dunams a “nature reserve,” and severing it from the West Bank through a system of walls and fences, there can no longer be any doubt as to which “public” this “benefit” is intended for.
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On May 5, the Civil Administration published an order titled: “Decision Regarding the Acquisition of Ownership and Seizure of Possession – Tomb of the Prophet Samuel Site, No. H/02/26.”

The order was signed by Hillel Roth, an ultra-extremist settler carrying the rather dubious title of “Deputy Head of the Civil Administration.” Roth is effectively the man Smotrich installed at the top of the Civil Administration after the current government took office.
“…Having been convinced that the acquisition of ownership of the land is for the public benefit and for the realization of the project for the development and preservation of the archaeological site of the Tomb of the Prophet Samuel, and that the developer is capable of paying compensation to the rights holders in the land, I hereby decide on the acquisition of ownership of the land…”

This is the standard wording of an expropriation order, the type through which the army has confiscated roughly 75,000 dunams across the West Bank since 1967. Yet this particular order differs from all previous expropriation orders in one crucial respect: this is the first time Israel has expropriated a site considered holy by both Muslims and Christians. In effect, the order confiscates the site from the Islamic Waqf and transfers ownership to the Israeli military authorities.

It is worth recalling that expropriation orders in the West Bank are supposedly intended only for civilian projects from which the local Palestinian population is also meant to benefit. In reality, as we demonstrated in our 2022 report “For the common Good,” such orders have overwhelmingly served settlement interests alone. Link to the report in the comments.

The story of Nabi Samuel—believed by tradition to be the burial place of the Prophet Samuel—illustrates how sacred traditions migrate between religions. In 1 Samuel 25:1 it is written:
“And Samuel died; and all Israel gathered together and lamented him, and buried him in his house at Ramah…”

As far as is known, the first to identify “Ramah” with the site of Nabi Samuel were Christian clergy during the Byzantine period (4th–7th centuries CE). Many of the Christian traditions locating biblical events emerged during this era. The Crusaders who arrived in the “Holy Land” at the end of the 11th century were apparently also impressed by the site’s commanding elevation and became convinced it was indeed Samuel’s burial place.

The structure known today as Nabi Samuel—despite the minaret rising above it—was originally built as a Crusader church, something immediately obvious to anyone with even a basic familiarity with church architecture:
The building follows the basilica form characteristic of medieval churches.
The church apse faces east.
Beneath the structure lies a crypt—the ancient focal point that grants the church its sanctity. In this case, the tomb attributed to the Prophet Samuel.
By the time Saladin expelled the Crusaders roughly 90 years later, enough time had apparently passed for Muslims too to adopt the Christian tradition. Following several modifications, including changing the direction of prayer—something fundamentally incompatible with the original architecture—the church became a mosque. Around the same time, Jews also adopted the tradition identifying the site as Samuel’s tomb, much as occurred with Rachel’s Tomb in Bethlehem and Joseph’s Tomb in Nablus.

So far, there is nothing especially unusual here. The Middle East and Europe are full of structures that changed hands according to the identity of the ruling power. What makes this case unique is that in 1967 a new political force entered the story: the Jewish state, known of course as “the only democracy in the Middle East.”

Israelis searching for holy sites to justify their claim to the land in general—and to the territories occupied in June 1967 in particular—were hardly about to miss the opportunity to seize a site like Nabi Samuel. Thus, the Crusader church turned mosque became yet another pilgrimage site for Jewish devotees of holy tombs.

Once Israel took control of the site, it became impossible for Palestinians to continue living nearby. In the early 1970s the area was declared an antiquities site, and the Palestinian residents living adjacent to the church/mosque/synagogue were forced to leave their homes and relocate several hundred meters eastward, so that Israeli archaeology could mark ownership. In time, it became clear that many of the homes those displaced residents were forced to build were themselves issued demolition orders. Thus passed 55 years during which Israel refused to approve any master plan that would allow the residents of Nabi Samuel to live with even minimal dignity and security, free from fear that their homes would be demolished.

In 1995 another critical step was taken in the takeover of the Nabi Samuel area when the site was declared the “Prophet Samuel National Park.” The term “site” is somewhat misleading here, since the nature reserve covers some 3,300 dunams, bordering the municipal boundary of Jerusalem as redrawn after 1967. In other words, Israel blocked Palestinian development throughout the entire area stretching from central Jerusalem northward to the village of al-Jib—either by annexing the land to Jerusalem or by declaring it part of the “Prophet Samuel National Park.”

The next decisive step in severing Nabi Samuel from the West Bank came in 2008–2009, when Israel built the Separation Barrier, leaving Nabi Samuel and the nearby settlements of Har Shmuel, Givon, and Givat Ze’ev inside a corridor connecting northern Jerusalem to Highway 443. As a result, the several hundred Palestinian residents of Nabi Samuel were left isolated and impoverished, dependent on permits Israel still deigns to issue them. Meanwhile, more than 99.9% of the rest of the West Bank’s Palestinian population can only dream of visiting or praying at Nabi Samuel, since the site lies within the area the army declared a closed military “Seam Zone.”

But as we know, the West Bank tolerates no vacuum. If Palestinians are barred from entering, Israelis—most of them ultra-Orthodox—will flood in instead. Thus arose the need to plan a pilgrimage complex for those who are permitted access. In 2023, the Civil Administration approved Outline Plan 51/107/3, covering approximately 110 dunams. Exactly the same area the Civil Administration announced it was expropriating on May 5. It turns out to be precisely the same parcel of land.

And now it is finally clear for whose “public benefit” Smotrich’s loyal servant in the Civil Administration decided to confiscate the land.

Links to the expropriation order and Plan 51/107 appear in the comments.
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30/05/2026

A few days ago, Zvi Sukkot, the local far-right clown, filmed himself jumping into one of Solomon’s Pools, located in Area A. He got there via a road carved out from the settlement of Efrat with the approval of the commander of the apartheid command, settler Avi Bluth. Here is another angle on far-right tourism, which—like everything else in the West Bank—is advanced at gunpoint and under military protection.
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On September 21, 2025, the commander of the apartheid command, settler Avi Bluth, signed a “temporary” seizure order for “security purposes.” Order No. 3/25 covers 60 dunams of land seized for the construction of a road network encircling the violent and lawless settlement of Efrat.

The northern section of the road built pursuant to the order, runs alongside the southern edges of the villages of Artas and al-Khadr, both located in Area A, as well as the city of Bethlehem and several surrounding villages. This section of the road is clearly visible in the valley when standing at the northern edge of the settlement.

The new “security” road was designed to connect to a road used by Palestinians to reach Solomon’s Pools and from there Bethlehem. In practice, over recent months, settlers have been using this “security” road to access Solomon’s Pools themselves.

The interesting part is that this is actually the second “security” road the army has built in the area. A year ago, we published a post explaining what happened to the original “security” road constructed in exactly the same part of Efrat some twenty years ago. The short version—while the full story can be found in our earlier post—is that settlers took over part of the route of the original “security” road and turned it into an “artists’ center” and a row of food stalls. As a result, the current commander of the apartheid command, settler Avi Bluth, ordered the construction of a new “security” road, whose purpose is to push Palestinians away from land that settlers had already seized illegally and built on without authorization.

So you took over land designated for a security fence? No problem. Avi Bluth will simply carve out a new “security” road across additional Palestinian agricultural land. A road that, purely by coincidence, also allows settlers to reach Solomon’s Pools and promote a form of militant nationalist tourism designed to undermine and ultimately collapse the Oslo framework.

Well done, Avi Bluth.

A link to the post we published a year ago appears in the comments.
A link to Seizure Order 32/25 also appears in the comments.

24/05/2026

The blocking of agricultural roads by settlers has, in recent years, become one of the great scourges of the West Bank. Thousands of closures now crisscross the territory: some improvised, some operated manually, and an increasing number controlled remotely through electric gates that can be opened and closed with a smartphone. Today, we take a brief trip to the other side of the gates of hell.
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By now, the pattern has become routine: an outpost is established, and immediately the surrounding roads are blocked off with improvised barricades and pirate gates. Some are manual barriers, while a growing number are electric gates operated through dedicated mobile applications. Thus, yet another flourishing industry has emerged—one that profits directly from apartheid.

The purpose of these gates is always the same: to prevent Palestinians, and anyone else settlers choose to exclude, from moving freely or reaching lands seized through violence. Each gate costs tens of thousands of shekels, and there is little doubt that the bill is ultimately paid by various public and governmental bodies.

Two main Israeli companies dominate the pirate-gate market in the West Bank. We will not name them here, as we prefer not to advertise local businesses profiting from nationalist violence, mafia-style intimidation, and apartheid. Suffice it to say that one company is based in the Barkan Industrial Zone and controls a significant share of the market for pirate gates across the West Bank. The second is based in Beersheba and mainly supplies gates to the lawless Mount Hebron Regional Council, the settlement council geographically closest to Beersheba.

These two Israeli companies, which manufacture, assemble, and maintain most of the pirate gates in the West Bank, import their electric motors from several companies based in northern Italy: BFT Automation, Comunello Gate, and Benincà Group.

These Italian companies—whether knowingly or not—play a central role in sustaining the regime of terror and violence that Israel and its settlers impose on the Palestinian population of the West Bank.

Last Friday (22.5.2026), the Italian government, together with several other governments, published an official statement warning about settler violence and the continued expansion of settlements in the West Bank:

"Over the past few months, the situation in the West Bank has deteriorated significantly. Settler violence is at unprecedented levels. The policies and practices of the Israeli government, including a further entrenchment of Israeli control, are undermining stability and prospects for a two-state solution."

Later in the statement, the governments warned companies against participating in settlement construction tenders because of the legal implications they may face as a result of violating international law:

"Businesses should not bid for construction tenders for E1 or other settlement developments. They should be aware of legal and reputational consequences of participating in settlement construction including the risk of involving themselves in serious breaches of international law."

Toward the end of the statement, the governments also called on Israel to prosecute violent settlers:

“We call on the Government of Israel to end its expansion of settlements and administrative powers, ensure accountability for settler violence…”

Had the Italian government also examined how Italian companies profit from settler violence, it would very quickly have found itself at the offices of the companies supplying electric motors to the pirate-gate industry that settlers have spread across hundreds of locations throughout the West Bank. For millions of Palestinians living under occupation, these gates are quite literally the gates of hell.

Link to the Italian government statement in the comments.

20/05/2026

There are documents which, had we read them just a few years ago, we would never have believed were official state documents. Today, after three and a half years in the company of Israel’s criminal, corrupt, and racist government, they somehow seem completely natural. One such document recently reached us. What was truly frightening was how natural it already felt.
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Yesterday (19.5.2026), an interesting hearing was scheduled before Judge Naama Keren Aharon at the Jerusalem Appeals Tribunal. The appellant is an Italian journalist and photographer named Alessandro Stefanelli, who for years reported on events in Israel and particularly in the West Bank without any interference from Israeli authorities. But when he attempted to re-enter the country for work purposes in September 2025, the Population and Immigration Authority refused to grant him a visa and effectively barred him from entering the West Bank under the “Entry into Israel Law.” Apparently, anyone seeking to enter the West Bank—which is not part of the State of Israel—must first prove that he has “the right” to enter Israel. Yet another distilled expression of the breathtaking Israeli arrogance for which the country has become internationally known.

The story was first reported by Nir Hasson in Haaretz last February. A link appears in the comments.

Following the Population and Immigration Authority’s persistent refusal to allow him entry into the West Bank, Stefanelli hired attorney Tamir Blank, who filed an appeal on his behalf with the Appeals Tribunal—the first administrative body reviewing decisions of the Immigration Authority. Last Wednesday (13.5.2026), attorney Shir Moial from the legal department of the Population and Immigration Authority submitted a lengthy and detailed response explaining why Stefanelli should not be permitted to enter the West Bank. The official reason for the refusal is “considerations relating to public security, public safety, or public order.”

Now let us look more closely at the details.
Moial’s response letter reveals that one of the tasks assigned to the Judea and Samaria District Police’s nationalist crime unit is monit
oring the social media activity of journalists and international activists. Yes, this is the very same police unit whose commander, Avishai Moalem, has been suspended for over a year and a half on suspicion of bribery. Moalem is suspected of ignoring Shin Bet warnings about Jewish violence and terrorism in the West Bank in order to secure promotion from the Kahanist minister overseeing the police. It is therefore hardly surprising that the unit fails to solve roughly 90% of Israeli nationalist crimes in the West Bank. But when it comes to critical statements about Israeli policy in the territory, it suddenly becomes highly efficient.

Here are the findings upon which Superintendent Shmuel Ashkenazi, head of the nationalist interrogation department in the Judea and Samaria District Police, based his recommendation to bar Stefanelli and several other activists and journalists—described in his letter to the Immigration Authority as “foreign instigators of crime”—from entering the West Bank. The quotations are reproduced verbatim, minus the links:

“He published an article claiming that Bedouin villages lack protected shelters, but attached two photos of improvised shelters like those found in many places, including IDF bases, without explaining what they were.”

“After 7 October, accuses Israel of creating apartheid in Judea and Samaria.”

“20 October 2024 – article accusing Israel of environmental pollution in Tulkarm.”

Around ten days ago, Ashkenazi’s deputy, Captain Keren Ben Gal, completed the factual picture regarding Stefanelli’s “criminal involvement”, adding three more incriminating examples supposedly proving the journalist’s dangerousness:

“Accuses Israel of occupation while documenting an armed militant in Nablus.”

“Calls for international intervention against ‘settler violence’ and presents a one-sided map.”

“Anti-Israeli activity since February 2026, article about occupation and settler violence.”

Captain Ben Gal concludes her letter to the Immigration Authority with the following statements:

“1. Regarding Alessandro Stefanelli, several assessments have been provided by the Israel Police.
2. Based on the open-source information transferred to you, we believe there is a problem with allowing the individual to enter the State of Israel for the following reasons:

A. His entry into the State of Israel for the purpose of reaching the Judea and Samaria area, or alternatively Gaza, for the purpose of carrying out delegitimization propaganda against the State of Israel.

B. Disseminating propaganda defining Israel as a state carrying out ‘apartheid’—a regime of racist oppression defined under international law as a crime against humanity.

C. It should be noted that according to photographs he takes and published that as part of his work he appears to maintain contact with armed individuals from the Palestinian Authority areas.

D. Through the propaganda he publishes, he encourages delegitimization and inflames violence in the Judea and Samaria area.”

One assumes that officers Ashkenazi and Ben Gal also wish to be promoted within the police ranks. The problem is that promotion in today’s police force requires little more than a computer with an internet connection, a mouse, Google Translate, and a healthy dose of nationalist paranoia—instead of actual determination to combat and eradicate the mafioso-style nationalist violence that claims Palestinian lives every single week.

A link to the response letter and its attached appendices appears in the comments.

Kerem Navot - Naboth’s Vineyard

12/06/2026

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06/06/2026

02/06/2026

30/05/2026

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