"The Arabs smell weakness": Rare documentation from Efrat's backyard

Rabbi Benny Lau embarks on a journey to the outposts and farms around Efrat, meeting Hassan, who seeks justice for his brother shot dead on the family's land, and Yossi Levit, a former 504 investigator who believes Arabs are Nazis and calls for their expulsion. The article reveals the struggle for control of the land, the ideology driving the Hilltop Youth, and the daily tension between Israelis and Palestinians in the area.

Rabbi Benny Lau embarks on a journey to the outposts and farms around Efrat, as part of a series of filmed articles from his book "On the Path of the Patriarchs." The article reveals the complex reality in the area, where weddings and an ecological pool exist alongside a violent struggle for control. Lau meets Hassan, an Israeli Arab from Beit Safafa, whose brother Muhammad Ahmad Faraj was shot dead on the family's land six months ago. The family holds land ownership certificates from the Civil Administration, but on the hill overlooking their home, the outpost "Kochav Yehuda" was established, linked to Ha'itam Farm. Lau also meets Yossi Levit, a former 504 investigator, who grew up with Eddie Drivan, a well-known figure in the Hebron Hills. Levit believes in the model of "conquest, expulsion, settlement," sees Arabs as Nazis, and calls for the expulsion of all Arabs from the land. The article presents the extreme ideology of the Hilltop Youth, the helplessness of the Palestinians in the face of it, and the lack of enforcement by the military and government.