Power in Israel flows through a web of personal, institutional, and ideological ties that link the military, politics, and the settler movement.
This elite – often educated in the same schools, serving in the same elite units, and later entering public administration or business – sustains a shared worldview where territorial control is a national and moral duty.
Violence, in this context, is not an exception but an instrument of belonging.
Key Points
- The same elite networks dominate the army, government, and economy.
- Settler leaders and army commanders frequently overlap in career paths and ideology.
- State support and private capital merge in projects that expand settlements.
- Informal cooperation normalises settler violence as part of national defence.
- Result: blurred boundaries between state policy and civilian aggression.
Military–Settler Continuum
The connection between officers and settlers is not incidental.
Many high-ranking figures live in settlements or are directly involved in local councils.
Security arguments – “protecting communities” – justify infrastructure that primarily benefits settlers.
Roads, fences, and military zones appear defensive but create conditions for new expansion.
│ Ethical question:
If state resources defend illegal settlements, can the distinction between “official” and “private” violence still hold?
Patronage and Promotion
Careers often reward loyalty to settlement ideology.
Commanders who support harsh measures in the West Bank rise faster in the hierarchy.
Political figures with military prestige secure funding for projects tied to the same ideology.
Thus, policy is shaped by a self-reinforcing cycle: expansion brings promotion; promotion reinforces expansion.
Economic Interests and Ideological Profit
Settler enterprises – construction, security tech, agriculture – receive tax breaks and contracts.
Companies run by former officers provide surveillance tools or logistics to both the army and the settlements.
Economic success merges with ideological legitimacy: profit becomes patriotism.
│ Ethical question:
When economic growth depends on control over occupied land, whose freedom is it built upon?
Militarised Normalcy
In towns and schools near settlements, uniforms and weapons are part of everyday imagery.
Children grow up seeing soldiers as neighbours and role models.
This environment blurs civilian and military spheres, teaching that force is a natural element of community life.
Evidence and Recent Examples
- Appointments: Former generals holding ministerial or settlement administration posts.
- Protection: Soldiers standing by during settler attacks (documented by B’Tselem, 2024).
- Funding: Government budgets redirected to settlement infrastructure via “security allocations.”
- Narrative: Public rhetoric equating settlers with pioneers and national saviours.
Deepening: Institutional Interlock
Academic and policy institutions contribute expertise that sustains this entanglement.
Strategic think tanks produce doctrines – such as the Dahiya Doctrine – that blur the line between deterrence and collective punishment.
Universities host defence programmes (Atuda) linking research and service, creating continuity from classroom to command post.
Media
- QR: Short documentary clip – Power and Privilege: The Military–Settlement Nexus.
- Optional: Infographic – Career Pathways of the Israeli Elite.
Sources
- B’Tselem (2024). Settler Violence and State Complicity.
- Haaretz (2023–25). Reports on political appointments from elite military units.
- Peace Now (2024). The State Behind the Settlers.
- Gabi Siboni, Military Thought Journal (IDF), policy papers on deterrence and “overmatch.”
- Eyal Weizman (2022). Hollow Land.
Reflection Questions
- What happens when the same people control both the army and settlement councils?
- How does economic interest reinforce ideological commitment?
- Can you identify parallels in other societies where elites profit from conflict?
- What does accountability mean when violence becomes a career advantage?
Tips for Dialogue
- Explore how the merger of military, political, and economic power shapes decision-making.
- Discuss whether settler violence can ever be “private” when the army provides cover.
- Reflect on the role of education and social prestige in maintaining a culture of expansion.
- Consider how narratives of heroism mask the material realities of dispossession.
Resources
PDF: Elites and the Economy of Control – download
Video: Networks of Power: Army, Politics, Settlements – watch