Christian Churches Were Not Spared Either
“Union for Justice”: Settlers Burned and Desecrated 15 Mosques in the West Bank Over the Course of One Year
20/6/2026 – Union for Justice Foundation
The Union for Justice Foundation stated that settler gangs carried out 15 attacks against mosques in Palestinian villages and towns during the past year, while Christian churches were likewise subjected to similar attacks.
The Foundation explained that these attacks included arson, forced entry, desecration, destruction of mosque property and contents, the writing of racist slogans, intimidation of worshippers, and preventing them from performing prayers, noting that the majority of these attacks were concentrated in the governorates of Ramallah and Nablus.
The Foundation added: “Had it not been for the vigilance of local residents and their intervention to confront these attacks on more than one occasion, the number of mosques subjected to such assaults would have been much higher.”
It continued:
“The targeting of places of worship by settlers, whether Muslim or Christian, constitutes a violation of international human rights law, which guarantees the right to freedom of religion and belief and protects places of worship as an integral component of that right.”
The Foundation further noted that Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights provides that:
“Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion, including the freedom to adhere to a religion, to adopt any religion or belief of his or her choice, and the freedom to manifest his or her religion or belief through worship, the performance of rituals, practice, and teaching, either individually or in a group, and in public or in private.”
The Foundation pointed out that the attacks carried out by settlers against Palestinian mosques and churches would not have taken place without the on-the-ground protection provided by the Israeli army, as well as the legal backing and material support provided by the Israeli government formed by the far right.
It stressed that this government has, since assuming office, sought to frame the Israeli–Palestinian conflict in religious terms and to employ religious symbols and texts to incite attacks against Palestinians, expel them from their lands, and deprive them of their rights.
Attacks on Mosques
According to monitoring and documentation by the Union for Justice Foundation, on 28 August 2025, a settler desecrated and urinated on the wall of the historic Abu Ghosh Mosque in occupied Jerusalem.
On 24 October, a group of settlers stormed the Khirbet Tana Mosque, located on lands belonging to the town of Beit Furik east of Nablus, and vandalized its contents. One week later, settlers threw stones at a mosque in the town of Deir Dibwan, east of Ramallah Governorate, shattering its windows.
On 13 November, a group of settlers set fire to the Al-Hajjah Hamida Mosque, located between the towns of Deir Istiya and Kifl Haris, northwest of Salfit, and spray-painted racist slogans on its walls. Approximately two weeks later, settlers burned parts of the Al-Falah Mosque in the Abu Zain area, north of the town of Biddya, west of Salfit Governorate.
On 2 January, a group of settlers stormed the Al-Salam Mosque in the town of Deir Ballut, west of Salfit Governorate, and wreaked havoc inside it. On 23 January, settlers destroyed the contents of the Khirbet Tana Mosque—for the second time—in the area belonging to the town of Beit Furik, east of Nablus Governorate.
On 8 February, a group of settlers stormed a mosque located between the villages of Kisan and Al-Minya, southeast of Bethlehem. They vandalized the mosque, stole its carpets, cut the electrical wires supplying it, and grazed their sheep among the trees surrounding the mosque.
On 23 February, a group of settlers infiltrated the area at dawn and set fire to the entrance of the Abu Bakr Al-Siddiq Mosque, located between the villages of Tell and Sarra, west of Nablus. They also painted racist slogans on its outer walls.
On 12 March, settlers set fire during the early morning hours to the Mohammad Fayyad Mosque in the village of Duma, south of Nablus, and painted racist slogans on its walls. In that incident, residents succeeded in bringing the fire under control before it spread to the entire mosque, with damage limited to the entrance.
On 15 May, a group of settlers infiltrated the village of Jibiya, northwest of Ramallah, before dawn and set fire to the village mosque and several vehicles, while also painting racist slogans on the mosque’s walls.
On 14 June, settlers attacked the village of Burqa, east of Ramallah, smashed the doors of Al-Nour Mosque, and set fire near its entrance in an attempt to burn it down. However, residents managed to extinguish the fire before it spread inside the mosque, while the settlers fled the scene.
The following day, settlers painted racist slogans on the walls of Safa Mosque in the town of Beit Ummar, north of Hebron. On 17 June, in two separate incidents, settlers set fire to the Grand Mosque in the village of Jiljilya and Al-Farouq Mosque in the town of Mazari’ Al-Nubani, north of Ramallah, and painted racist and inciting slogans on the walls of one of the two mosques.
Al-Aqsa Mosque: Daily Incursions
In addition to these attacks carried out by settler groups against Palestinian mosques in the West Bank, Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem is subjected to another form of desecration. Under the protection of the Israeli occupation police, these groups enter the mosque compound twice daily, perform Talmudic rituals, and raise the Israeli flag.
On 1 February, settlers, in coordination with the occupation police, inaugurated a new route for incursions inside Al-Aqsa Mosque. The route allows them to reach the vicinity of the Dome of the Rock from the western and northern sides and facilitates access to this area compared to previous years.
In May, nine settlers entered Al-Aqsa Mosque carrying a “bread offering”, after assaulting two Al-Aqsa guards, in what was considered a serious precedent and the first incident of its kind since the occupation of Jerusalem in 1967.
The Israeli government is seeking to impose new facts on the ground at Al-Aqsa Mosque in favor of Jews, thereby bypassing the role of the Jordanian government, which is entrusted with overseeing the Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem under the Hashemite Custodianship, as well as under international agreements and international humanitarian law, in its capacity as the last authority responsible for East Jerusalem before its occupation in 1967.
Christian Churches Have Not Been Spared Either
Settler attacks and assaults have not been limited to Muslim mosques; they have also extended to Christian churches, reflecting the religious extremism and exclusionary attitudes reached by settler gangs, as well as the extent of their hostility toward anything non-Jewish.
On 7 July 2025, according to documentation by the Union for Justice Foundation, a group of settlers attacked St. George’s (Al-Khader) Church and the cemetery in the predominantly Christian town of Al-Taybeh, east of Ramallah, and set fire to trees inside the cemetery.
On 8 February, a group of settlers carried out a mass spitting attack at the entrance to the Armenian Church in the Old City of occupied Jerusalem, in a provocative assault that infringed upon freedom of worship and targeted Christian holy sites.
On 19 February, settlers attacked the Church of the Visitation in the depopulated village of Ein Karem in Jerusalem. The attack included the spray-painting of racist slogans on walls and on vehicles parked near the church.
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