What is Hashomer Yosh, the latest settler group hit with U.S. sanctions?
The government-backed organization, which brings volunteers to Israeli farming outposts, is a major driver of violent land theft in the West Bank.
By Georgia Gee August 30, 2024
On Wednesday, Aug. 28, the United States announced a new round of sanctions — this time targeting Hashomer Yosh, an Israeli NGO with close ties to state ministries. The group, whose name means “The Guardian of Judea and Samaria” (referencing the Biblical term for the West Bank), supports settler farmers throughout the occupied territory, and sends hundreds of teenage volunteers each year — some of whom are settlers themselves — to work in and defend illegal outposts.
The U.S. State Department accused Hashomer Yosh of contributing to “extreme levels of instability and violence against civilians in the West Bank,” by providing material support to Meitarim Farm, an outpost sanctioned in July, as well as to several settlers named in prior rounds of U.S. sanctions. In response, the organization denied that it engages in illegal conduct, affirming that its activities are “legitimate and coordinated with the [Israeli] government,” from which it receives funding.
Government-backed land theft
The ideological roots of Hashomer Yosh can be traced back to the early twentieth century. As European Zionists began settling in Palestine, Alexander Zaïd, a Jewish immigrant from Russia, founded an organization called Hashomer to safeguard Jewish settlements in rural areas.
The original Hashomer was disbanded with the formation of a formal Zionist paramilitary organization, the Haganah, which was later integrated into the Israel Defense Forces. But over a century later, Hashomer Yosh continues in the old tradition: establishing an agricultural presence to cement Jewish control of the land at the expense of Palestinians, under the guise of protecting communities and fighting “agricultural terrorism.”
Hashomer Yosh was founded in 2013, with the objective “to assist the various farmers throughout Judea and Samaria, who bravely protect our lands and stand strong in the face of economic difficulties and frequent agriculture crime.” But the prevalence of “agriculture crime” and claims of violence against Israeli farmers is controversial: while there have been numerous media reports citing thefts and arson on Israeli farmland in the past decade, others say this threat is overstated and operates in service of a nationalist agenda to take over land.
The founders of Hashomer Yosh have long been known for their aggression and violent rhetoric toward Palestinians. One, Meir Bertler, was previously arrested in 2011 after breaking into private Palestinian property near the Jordanian border with a group of settlers. The same year, he wrote an op-ed about the “monster population” of Palestinians growing in West Bank villages and called for the Israeli army to “avenge the blood” of Israelis killed.
Like better known “guard” movements, such as the right-wing Hashomer Hachadash (“The New Guard”) and Zionist-left Hashomer Hatzair (“The Young Guard”), Hashomer Yosh is focused on engaging Israeli youth, offering volunteering and pre-military programs that send young people to guard land in illegal outposts. The Israeli army has offered these programs as an alternative to traditional military service, while Ariel University, located in a settlement in the West Bank, gives academic credit to students who volunteer with the group.
The organization has received millions of shekels from the Israeli government, including the Agriculture Ministry and the Negev, Galilee, and National Resilience Ministry. In 2021 it received state funding to finance drones — despite the fact that a general decree prohibits the possession of drones in the West Bank. This April, Hashomer Yosh launched a campaign to purchase 80 drones to protect shepherds on the agricultural farms.
It has also received extensive funding from the Jewish diaspora. Documents obtained by +972 show that it received over NIS 256,000 (US $70,000) from the New York-based Central Fund of Israel, known for funding settler groups, between 2015 and 2019.
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