Illegal Israeli settler groups recruiting at London event

An illegal Israeli settler group has been photographed at an event in London, despite calls for it to be sanctioned.

The group, Shivat Zion, previously offered to help British people move to illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank.

An exclusive investigation by Declassified UK found that the organisation recently held a fair at an Aliyah Fair, organised by the World Zionist Organisation.

 The event is supposed to help British Jews emigrate to Israel.

Only last month, Declassified revealed that the organisation had bragged about “awesome” illegal settlements, and told supporters it could benefit from UK tax subsidies.

Jonathan Vigné, the group’s “encouragement officer”, was filmed talking about the support the group would give to settlers moving to Efrat – an illegal Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank.

The investigation then sparked a discussion in parliament. MPs called on the government to impose sanctions on Shivat Zion, along with Vigné and the charity’s CEO, Shraga Evers, who also lives in Efrat.

The government promised to take “concrete steps” to counter the expansion of settlements. However, it appears to have taken no action whatsoever. It even refused to explicitly condemn the organisation.

Since then, the EU has imposed sanctions on four settler groups and three CEOs. However, this does not include Shivat Zion.

‘Aliyah Day’

According to Declassified, the ‘Aliyah Day’ was supposed to provide:

information, guidance and community for British Jews considering moving to Israel. It featured lectures on everything from entering the Israeli jobs market, to the tax advantages given to immigrants.

However, they kept the venue a secret until the day before, suggesting it was not above board.

According to an anti-Zionist activist who attended the event for research purposes, it was well attended.

Ofir Sofer, Israel’s Minister of Aliya and Integration, was also at the event. Sofer has previously offered financial rewards to new immigrants who settle in the West Bank.

Sofer belongs to Israel’s far-right Religious Zionist party. The UK government has sanctioned its leader, Bezalel Smotrich, for:

repeated incitements of violence against Palestinian communities.

Sofer’s ministry had a stall at the Aliyah Fair, along with the Israeli Ministry of Education.

Government policy

According to the event’s floor plan, several other organisations promoting illegal settlements in the West Bank were also in attendance.

One such organisation is Israela. It is promoting relocation to at least 10 illegal settlements in the Occupied West Bank, and Haspin, in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights.

Importantly, though, occupation and stealing Palestinian land are a core part of Israeli government policy.

In December 2022, in a post on X, Benjamin Netanyahu stated:

These are the basic lines of the national government under my leadership:

The Jewish people has an exclusive and indisputable right to all spaces of the Land of Israel. The government will promote and develop settlement in all parts of the Land of Israel – in the Galilee, in the Negev, in the Golan, in Judea and Samaria.

There are currently more than 737,000 illegal Israeli settlers living in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. They have the full backing of the state – both ideologically and materially. The government arms them, and both the IOF and Israeli police protect them.

As the Canary previously reported:

These settlers only aim is to force Palestinians off their land, so their colonial settlements can be built there instead, and they do this by storming villages and terrorising residents, burning homes, killing livestock, and destroying crops and trees.

Currently, Israel is perpetrating its biggest expansion of Jewish settlements in decades across the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Settlements are illegal under international law.

Article 49 of the Geneva Convention states:

The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.

Additionally, the Hague Regulations (1907) prohibit the seizure and destruction of private property. This means that both the building and the expansion of settlements breach international humanitarian law.

This means that settlers in and of themselves are criminals.

Increasing violence

From expelling an entire Palestinian village, to murdering a farmer, harassing Palestinian shepherds, and stopping children from playing football, there is a clear conscious effort among Israeli settlers to cause physical, emotional, and mental suffering to Palestinians.

Even the former head of Mossad has compared settler violence to the Holocaust.

It’s all well and good for the UK government to condemn the actions of organisations promoting illegal settlements, but words alone are not enough. The same organisations are parading around London, advertising their services and openly offering to move British families to illegal settlements; words are nowhere near enough.

Israel is a genocidal, terrorist state – and the settler movement is a prime example of the Jewish supremacist mindset going unchecked by the international community.

Feature image via Declassified UK