Louis Theroux: The Settlers (BBC, 2025)

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Louis Theroux’s most recent documentary, The Settlers, aired on the BBC in April and is available on iPlayer. It revisits the Israeli settlement movement in the West Bank, more than a decade after his earlier film The Ultra Zionists.

The approach is observational, with minimal narration. Theroux interviews a range of ideological settlers, including Daniella Weiss, who articulates her vision of Jewish sovereignty over the West Bank in overtly religious and political terms. Palestinian perspectives are included briefly, with Issa Amro appearing in Hebron, but the focus remains on the settler worldview.

A few points to pre-empt the usual detours:

  • Criticism of Zionist ideology is not antisemitism. The film does not criticise Judaism or Jewish people. It examines a political movement with state-level influence. Many Jewish individuals, in Israel and abroad, oppose the expansionist views depicted.
  • The statements made by settlers in the documentary are consistent with their public positions. Weiss, for example, has long advocated permanent control over the West Bank and has dismissed the idea of a Palestinian state outright.
  • The depiction of settler violence is grounded in fact. The film includes footage of a settler shooting a Palestinian protester. Incidents like this are well documented by human rights groups and the UN, which reports more than 1,300 Palestinians displaced due to settler activity in the past year alone.
  • The influence of the settler movement on Israeli policy is not speculative. Senior cabinet members, including Smotrich and Ben-Gvir, are either settlers themselves or direct ideological allies. Policies enacted since 2023 have shifted administrative control in parts of the West Bank from military to civilian settler leadership.
  • Scenes in Hebron accurately reflect current conditions. Palestinians live under restricted movement, surrounded by checkpoints and military patrols, while small settler enclaves are heavily guarded. This has been verified by journalists and observers on the ground.
  • The documentary does not attempt to explain the entire Israeli–Palestinian conflict. It is a focused examination of one ideological current and its impact on the ground.

In response to common counterpoints, a list of past peace proposals is often circulated : 1947, Camp David, Taba, Olmert, Trump. These are real events, but their summary often omits crucial context. Offers to Palestinians have frequently involved fragmented, non-contiguous land, conditional sovereignty, and ongoing military or border control. Some were rejected outright, others lapsed due to Israeli political changes. In some cases, no formal rejection occurred at all.

Both sides have missed opportunities. That is true. But there has also been a consistent asymmetry of power, and the definitions of “statehood” offered to Palestinians have fallen well short of genuine sovereignty.

For those who have watched it, I would be interested in your impressions.
Did the film’s restraint sharpen its message or dilute it?
And does giving these voices airtime help expose the ideology, or normalise it?

The film is also available to view here:
https://www.filmsforaction.org/watch/louis-theroux-the-settlers/
(Link shared for access only. This does not imply endorsement of the site or any other content it hosts.)

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Looks interesting, I’ll definitely give this a watch.

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Excellent film, thanks for the link. I do not see restraint, I just see an accurate picture of a powerful country doing everything possible to make life absolutely miserable for a weaker people. In order to oppress the weaker people, eliminate them, and steal their land and livelihoods. Which just shows that the powerful country is a bully and a coward.

I think that the airtime is beneficial. It just shows what is happening behind the scenes. And it shows the craziness and the extremism of the bullies. And it shows the truly toxic influence of religion and tribalism, which simply motivates people to kill and oppress one another.

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I should clarify, my comment on ‘restraint’ referred to Theroux’s approach as a filmmaker. He doesn’t interrupt or editorialise and there’s no voiceover, or moral signposting. He simply lets the interviewees speak and leaves the viewer to interpret what they’ve heard. It’s this absence of narrative framing that I refer to as being restrained.

I agree that the result is stark and the extremism on display is not hidden. It’s stated openly, often in calm domestic settings, which makes it all the more unsettling. There’s no need for dramatic music or confrontation - the speakers reveal enough on their own.

The imbalance of power is clear, and the occupation is systematic; what struck me most was the normalisation of it all. The bureaucracy; the polite extremism; the passing down of ideology as if it were tradition. It isn’t simply a case of a stronger side imposing its will on a weaker one - it’s an entire machinery, where belief, policy and legal structures operate together under the guise of order or divine right.

The religious dimension is certainly a very prominent factor, but it’s not the only one. Tribalism, nationalism, trauma and the pursuit of control all feed into it. Religion just happens to give it narrative coherence.

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Yup, all of these are part of the picture as well.

The short doc was an excellent look behind the curtain. But Israel is clever, they have worked hard to try to hide the utter savagery of their behavior, they have given hamas a solid run for the money in their race to the bottom in the evil of their joint behavior.

The IDF’s latest specialty is executing innocent children and infants. Audio:

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That was a difficult listen.

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Yup.

No more claiming the high ground with Israel.

They have become as bad as their enemy.

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i am sure the resident apologist will explain how the toddlers were a threat

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Apologists. Lots of them.

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Looks like the Israeli govt is removing the veil.

This was their goal all along:

Israel plans to capture all of Gaza under new plan
https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-hamas-war-news-05-05-2025-d22caabfd2cf89e83fe06e649e6438ba