Netanyahu convenes cabinet on settler violence in the West Bank that continues unabated

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel's prime minister met with top security officials to discuss a rising tide of Israeli settler violence in the West Bank, an Israeli official said Friday, as fresh allegations surfaced of Israeli settlers hurling rocks at passing Palestinian vehicles in the West Bank village of Huwara.

Huwara Mayor Jihad Ouda said the stone throwing was quickly followed by a huge fire at a nearby scrapyard. Flames lit up the evening sky and sent massive columns of smoke into the air, images and video on social media showed. The military said it had reports that Israelis set the fire and that police were investigating.

The U.N. humanitarian office documented 29 attacks by settlers in the West Bank from Nov. 11-17, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters Friday. The attacks caused 11 injuries and damage to 10 homes, two mosques and nearly two dozen vehicles, as well as damage to crops, livestock, and roughly 1,000 trees and saplings, he said.

Israeli forces have killed more than 200 Palestinians in the West Bank so far this year, including 50 children, Dujarric said.

In the latest deaths, the Palestinian Health Ministry said two Palestinian youths aged 18 and 16 were killed by Israeli gunfire overnight. The circumstances of the shootings were not immediately clear. Israeli police did not immediately respond when asked to comment.

At the meeting, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and officials from the military, the country's Shin Bet domestic security service and the police discussed the recent spike in violence and proposals on curbing it, according to an Israeli official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not permitted to talk about a closed-door gathering. The official said proposals floated at the meeting included getting violent settlers to attend educational programs.

The Prime Minister’s Office did not immediately respond to request for comment about what was discussed. The Israeli official said there would be a follow-up meeting.

Settler attacks ramped up during the Palestinian olive harvest season in October and early November and have continued since. Netanyahu has called the perpetrators “a handful of extremists” and urged law enforcement to pursue them for “the attempt to take the law into their own hands.” But rights groups and Palestinians say the problem is far greater than a few bad apples, and attacks have become a daily phenomenon across the territory.

Mohammad Dalal, the owner of the torched Huwara scrapyard, claimed that witnesses told him Israeli settlers were seen throwing rocks Thursday from an overpass at passing Palestinian vehicles below. He said the massive fire began soon after.

He said the Israeli army arrived later to force the perpetrators away.

“If the army had not removed them, they would have done even more,” Dalal said. "These settlers are causing destruction everywhere here. ... Where can we go? We want to remain steadfast on our land, no matter what.”

An Israeli investigation unit of soldiers and border police officers on Friday collected evidence at the scorched scrapyard, according to an Associated Press crew who was asked to leave by the investigators.

Asked about the incident, the Israeli military said it dispatched soldiers to the area after receiving reports that settlers were throwing rocks at Palestinian cars. It also said other reports indicated that “several” Israeli civilians had set fires and damaged property in the area. It said soldiers searched the area but didn't find any suspects and that the police were now handling the case.

Huwara has been the target of numerous attacks over recent years. In February 2023, scores of Israeli settlers went on a violent rampage there, setting dozens of cars and homes on fire after two settlers were killed by a Palestinian gunman. Palestinian medics said one man was killed and four others were badly wounded.

U.N. humanitarian office figures show 2,920 Israeli settler attacks took place between January and October this year.

Israel’s government is dominated by far-right proponents of the settler movement including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who formulates settlement policy, and Cabinet minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who oversees the nation’s police force.

The security cabinet meeting came shortly after Israeli settlers celebrated the creation of a new, unauthorized settlement near Bethlehem.

Israel's Civil Administration also recently announced plans to expropriate large swaths of Sebastia, a major archaeological site in the West Bank. Peace Now, an anti-settlement watchdog group, said the site is around 1,800 dunams (450 acres) — Israel’s largest seizure of archaeologically important land.

Singapore said Friday it will impose targeted financial sanctions and entry bans on four Israeli individuals for what it said was their involvement in violence against Palestinians in the West Bank. Singapore's Foreign Ministry named the individuals as Meir Ettinger,Elisha Yered, Ben-Zion Gopstein and Baruch Marzel. Some are currently under international sanction by the European Union, the U.K. and other countries.

In a statement, Singapore's Foreign Ministry said the settlers have been involved in “egregious acts of extremist violence against Palestinians in the West Bank” and urged the Israeli government to stop the violence and hold the perpetrators accountable.

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AP correspondent Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.

Mohammad Dalal looks at scorched cars in his scrapyard that was set ablaze the night before by who local residents alleged were Israeli settlers in the town of Huwara near the West Bank city of Nablus, Friday, Nov. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)

Mohammad Dalal looks at scorched cars in his scrapyard that was set ablaze the night before by who local residents alleged were Israeli settlers in the town of Huwara near the West Bank city of Nablus, Friday, Nov. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)

Smoke rises from scorched cars in a scrapyard that was set ablaze the night before by who local residents alleged were Israeli settlers in the town of Huwara near the West Bank city of Nablus, Friday, Nov. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)

Smoke rises from scorched cars in a scrapyard that was set ablaze the night before by who local residents alleged were Israeli settlers in the town of Huwara near the West Bank city of Nablus, Friday, Nov. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)

Smoke rises from scorched cars in a scrapyard that was set ablaze the night before by who local residents alleged were Israeli settlers in the town of Huwara near the West Bank city of Nablus, Friday, Nov. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)

Palestinians visit the Roman historical site in the West Bank town of Sebastia Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)

Palestinian Muhammad Azem, the mayor of Sebastia, inspects the Roman historical site in the West Bank town of Sebastia Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)

FILE - An Israeli soldier aims his weapon to disperse people taking part in a protest calling for the return of displaced Palestinians to their houses in the Nur Shams refugee camp in the West Bank city of Tulkarem, Nov. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger offered a sharp contrast to President Donald Trump’s depiction of the nation as being in a “golden age” during his State of the Union, arguing in her Democratic rebuttal that costs remain high for many Americans more than a year into his second term.

Her message, that families are still struggling under Trump’s policies, is one Democrats plan to carry nationwide ahead of the midterm elections. Party leaders point to Spanberger’s double-digit victory in Virginia last November as validation of a disciplined, cost-focused campaign they now hope to replicate across the country.

"Democrats across the country are laser-focused on affordability in our nation’s capital and in state capitals and communities across America," said Spanberger. “In the most innovative and exceptional nation in the history of the world, Americans deserve to know that their leaders are focused on addressing the problems that keep them up at night.”

Spanberger was flanked by American flags as she delivered the speech from Colonial Williamsburg, a living history museum with restored 18th-century buildings, invoking the site's role at the heart of Virginia’s early opposition to British rule.

“As we celebrate 250 years since America declared our independence from tyranny, I can think of no better place to speak to you,” Spanberger said.

Spanberger said she wanted to “plainly and honestly” speak to people watching at home. She structured her speech around a series of direct questions: “Is the president working to make life more affordable for you and your family? Is the president working to keep Americans safe, both at home and abroad? Is the president working for you?”

She contrasted those questions with what she described as the reality under Trump, saying he “has sent poorly trained federal agents into our cities, where they have arrested and detained American citizens and people who aspire to be Americans.” She added that Trump seeks to “pit us against one another” while “enriching himself, his family, his friends.”

“This is not what our founders envisioned. Not by a long shot,” said Spanberger. “So I’ll ask again: Is the president working for you? We all know the answer is no.”

Spanberger had far less time than the Republican president to make her case, speaking for around 13 minutes. Trump’s address to Congress stretched for just over an hour and 48 minutes, the longest in history, and ran late into the night.

In his speech, Trump described a nation with lower costs than when he took office, declaring, “This is the golden age of America.”

He also goaded the Democratic side of the House chambers throughout the speech for not standing, increasing his insults throughout the speech and calling his opponents “crazy.” But Democrats inside the chamber largely didn't react, sitting silently. Texas Rep. Al Green was removed from the chamber barely two minutes into the president’s address after holding a protest sign reading “Black People Aren’t Apes!”

Outside the chamber, Democrats who had skipped the speech responded at counterprogramming events, including a “People's State of the Union” featuring Democratic lawmakers alongside state and local leaders and celebrities.

“We know our state of the union. We know it is under attack,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland said at the event.

Democrats believe the political environment is shifting in their favor. Spanberger’s win in Virginia was followed by other high-profile Democratic victories, including a special election this month in Texas, where a Democrat flipped a reliably Republican state Senate district that Trump carried by 17 percentage points in 2024.

In California Sen. Alex Padilla's Spanish-language response to Trump's address, he described the nation as “living a nightmare that divides and destroys our communities” and urged viewers to “prepare, starting today, for your voice to reverberate this November.”

Padilla, who was forcefully removed from a Homeland Security news conference in Los Angeles last year while questioning immigration raids, referenced the moment in his remarks.

“They may have knocked me down for a moment, but I got right back up,” he said. “As our parents taught us: If you fall seven times, get up eight. I am still here. Standing. Still fighting.”

Spanberger, meanwhile, sought to tie Republicans in Congress closely to Trump as Democrats aim to flip the House and Senate in November. She warned that additional tariffs would raise costs “and Republicans in Congress, they remain unwilling to assert their constitutional authority to stop him.”

“They’re making your life harder. They’re making your life more expensive,” she said.

People hold up their banners during the "People's State of the Union" rally outside of the U.S. Capitol Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., speaks during the "People's State of the Union" rally outside of the U.S. Capitol Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger watches President Donald Trump's State of the Union address Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026, in Williamsburg, Va. Spanberger will deliver the Democratic response after the address. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, Pool)

Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger listens to President Donald Trump's State of the Union address, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026, in Williamsburg, Va. Spanberger will deliver the Democratic response after the address. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, Pool)

Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger delivers the Democratic response to President Donald Trump's State of the Union address Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026, in Williamsburg, Va. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, Pool)

FILE - Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger delivers her State of the Commonwealth address before a joint session of the Virignia General Assembly at the Capitol, Jan. 19, 2026, in Richmond, Va. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)