Have You Ever Seen What’s Actually Happening on the West Bank – In Your Name?

Jewish (and other) Americans argue endlessly about Israel. Few have seen what is happening on the ground. A new documentary offers a rare, unfiltered look.

Arguments over Israel are prevalent and intense in the Jewish world - and that’s understandable.

Most of us born since World War II were raised to see Israel as part of who we are – and to marvel at the miracle of renewed Jewish sovereignty after centuries of exile and at its rebirth in the shadow of the Holocaust.

Israel’s central place in our identity explains the intensity of the arguments - among ourselves and with others. From Shabbat tables and synagogue meetings to college campuses and social media. We argue out of fear, pride, anger, grief, and love.

When Israel is described as a colonial or oppressive power, many of us recoil – believing that language fails to reflect Jewish history or the reality of Israel’s founding. I know just how many American Jews resist the word “occupation,” having been told that settlements are integral to Israel’s security.

But most American Jews have never actually seen what we spend so much time arguing about.

Very few have been to the West Bank. Fewer still have witnessed land seizures outside the rule of law, the displacement and violence faced by Palestinians, or the parallel legal systems – one for Jews, one for Palestinians – that make this possible.

And almost none truly understand that cementing Israeli control over land seized six decades ago is actually the central project of the most radical government in Israel’s history.

I thought of all this as I watched a documentary that aired last week on Israel’s public television (Channel 11) examining how this government is reshaping the West Bank.

The film is a meticulous investigative report exposing how the Netanyahu government is actively promoting, funding, and expanding the settlement enterprise. Led by ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Orit Strook, this effort is not fringe or incidental. It is systematic and intentional.

In disturbing detail, the filmmakers show how Israeli taxpayer money is being used to support illegal outposts – illegal even under Israeli law – while creating irreversible “facts on the ground” that amount to de facto annexation of the West Bank.

This is not about isolated abuses. It is state policy.

The broadcast sparked a much-needed – and all-too-rare – debate inside Israel about democratic norms, misuse of public funds, and the real costs of the settlers’ agenda to Israel’s security, morality, and future.

Now, with English subtitles available thanks to our good friends at UnXeptable, the Israeli-American pro-democracy group, the film can be seen – and understood – by Jews and allies around the world as well. I’ve embedded it in this post and am linking to it here.

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Watching it forces us to confront truths we too often avoid.

Several times a year, I lead J Street trips to the West Bank so Americans can see this reality for themselves. We take members of Congress and senators, along with congressional staff, Jewish communal leaders, and policymakers.

On every trip, the reaction is the same: shock, grief, and pain – not simply because what participants see is so wrong but because it contradicts so much of what they have long been told.

While we cannot take millions of Americans or Israeli Jews to the West Bank, this film brings the West Bank to you.

So here’s what I’m asking you to do.

• Watch the film. Take one hour that you might otherwise spend arguing about Israel and use it instead to understand what the government is actually doing.

• Share this post and the video with a few friends or family members, with a simple request of your own: watch this and see for yourselves.

• Take a hard look at the Israel-related organizations you support. Understand where they stand on settlements and settler violence – where their money goes, how they advocate. Do not fund institutions that enable or excuse this behavior.

• Scrutinize the politicians you support. Are they willing to criticize what the Netanyahu government is doing? To sanction violent settler extremists? To say that U.S. support should be used as leverage when Israeli actions violate laws and moral norms?

• Stand up to those who claim that criticizing Israeli government policy is antisemitic or anti-Israel. Blurring this line does grave harm both to Israel and to the fight against real antisemitism.

• Push any Jewish institution you’re engaged in (your synagogue, JCC, federation, Hillel, or others) to expose their communities to what is actually happening in the West Bank.

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Loving Israel today, in a way that respects our families’ histories and our people’s tradition, is not about defending every action of its government. It is about ensuring that Israel remains a country we can – and want to – defend.

An Israel permanently controlling millions of Palestinians without rights is not a future our children will embrace. A country that normalizes dispossession, lawlessness, and ethno-national supremacy will not be secure, moral, or sustainable.

The settlement enterprise you will see in this film is not protecting Israel. It is hollowing it out from within. And the politicians and extremists driving it are not safeguarding the Jewish future – they are gambling it away.

Take the hour. Watch the film. Sit with the discomfort. Share it with the people you argue with and the people you love.

If we refuse to look – if we choose comfort over truth – we cede Israel’s future to those remaking it beyond recognition.

But if we are willing to see clearly and speak honestly, there is still time to change course.

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