A former head of Israel's Mossad intelligence agency has said that settler violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank reminds him of the Holocaust.
Tamir Pardo, who served as director of Mossad from 2011 to 2016, made the remarks in an interview with Channel 13 while touring Palestinian villages affected by ongoing settler attacks, alongside former Israeli army officials. "My mother was a Holocaust survivor, and what I saw reminded me of the events that happened against Jews in the last century," he said.
"What I saw today made me feel ashamed to be Jewish." Pardo warned that settler crimes – met with little response by authorities, which sometimes abet them – could lead to the "next October 7".
"It will be in a different format, much more painful, because the region is much more complicated. The state has chosen to sow the seeds for the next October 7," he said.
While he believes Israeli law enforcement is aware of the situation, Pardo suggested that it has “chosen to ignore it”.
“What I saw today is the existential threat to the State of Israel,” he said, noting that efforts to curb such attacks could come at a high cost, including the risk of civil war.
He pointed in particular to the influence of settler groups, which enjoy support at the highest levels of government, including from far-right ministers such as Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir.
“If we want, we can correct this, but the price will be very high,” Pardo said. “It is very much in our interest not to reach that point.”
Pardo recalled warnings by Israeli philosopher Yeshayahu Leibowitz in 1968, who criticized the occupation of Palestinian territories and the imposition of military rule over millions of Palestinians.
In his article The Territories, Leibowitz warned that control over Palestinians would ultimately lead to the “corruption” of Israeli society. "Rule over the occupied territories would have social repercussions," Leibowitz warned at the time.
"The corruption characteristic of every colonial regime would also prevail in the state of Israel," he added, calling for withdrawal from occupied territories. While Pardo once believed Leibowitz was mistaken, he now says “there was a lot of truth” in his warning.
Israeli settler violence and expansion, while long-standing, have intensified sharply since October 2023, including the systematic forced displacement of Palestinians from their communities and an increased use of live fire against unarmed residents.
The Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission said Israeli settlers have killed at least 16 Palestinians so far this year.
A United Nations report released in March recorded that more than 36,000 Palestinians were displaced in the West Bank between November 2024 and October 2025 amid a surge in military and settler attacks.
During the same period, 1,732 incidents of settler violence causing casualties or property damage were documented – a 25 percent increase on the previous year.
More than 1000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank since the Hamas-led attacks on Israel in October 2023.