Right Livelihood strongly condemns the recent escalation of threats and harassment against Palestinian human rights defender and 2024 Right Livelihood Laureate Issa Amro, following his appearance in the BBC documentary The Settlers.
On 3 May, Amro’s home in Hebron was raided by Israeli settlers and soldiers. The incursion, captured on video and widely circulated by international media, shows settlers breaking into and vandalising his home. When Israeli soldiers arrived, they did not intervene. Instead, they warned him that filing a complaint could result in his arrest.
“What happened to me is part of what is happening all over the West Bank,” Amro told Right Livelihood. “Settlers and soldiers attacked me because I was in the BBC film.”
The Settlers, produced by the BBC, investigates the expansion of illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank and their impact on Palestinians. Amro’s participation helped expose the realities of life under occupation and has made him a renewed target.
Amro’s experience reflects a broader pattern of settler violence, carried out, as Amro denounces, “with impunity and no accountability” from Israeli authorities. He reports that over 1,400 attacks on Palestinian communities by Israeli settlers have taken place since 7 October. He said that several Palestinians have been injured or killed, while the Israeli government continues to allocate funds to illegal outposts, despite their illegality under both international and Israeli law.
Amro, founder of Youth Against Settlements, has long documented human rights abuses in Hebron and advocated for peaceful resistance to the Israeli occupation. His work has made him a prominent voice for non-violence and justice.
Beyond physical attacks, Amro reports ongoing intimidation at military checkpoints—obstacles Palestinians are forced to cross daily. There, soldiers have verbally abused him and delayed his movements without justification. This routine harassment is part of the broader system of control and discrimination imposed on Palestinians in the occupied territories.
“The system makes me guilty until proven innocent,” Amro explained. “Settlers live under Israeli civilian law; I live under military law. That’s apartheid.”
We stand in solidarity with Amro and all human rights defenders who systematically face intimidation for their commitment to non-violent resistance.
