For the better part of nearly 600 days the worlds eyes have been on Gaza and the horrific humanitarian crisis that is unfolding.

What has been regrettably forgotten amidst the horror of the situation is the territory of Palestine still under Israeli occupation, the West Bank

A recent report from the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights found that the Israeli government has been stepping up the creation of illegal settlements and the illegal demolition of Palestinian’s property.

This week a new documentary from the BBC starring acclaimed documentarian and broadcaster Louis Theroux shedded much needed light on what is happening in the region.

In the documentary he visited these settlements and spoke to those living there as well as speaking to the native Palestinians affected by the oppression they face.

There were a number of instances in the documentary where he was confronted by aggressive IDF soldiers who demanded to see identification without reason or justification.

And instead of trying to intellectually challenge Zionism or debate the occupants of the settlements he brilliantly just allowed them to speak their mind. Letting them freely utter such hateful and quite frankly evil statements about the Palestinian people. Most notably from a rabbi who referred to Palestinians as “savages” and  wished for the land to be “cleansed of camel riders”.

What all this stands to say is this. If this is what their behaviour and their actions when the worlds cameras are there to capture it, what has gone on when they were not there? And more chillingly, for how many years?

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image credit @officiallouistheroux on Instagram