“Call me Jacob,” the burly, red-bearded settler told the Palestinian villagers who lived in his shadow, and who knew they should think of him as their mukhtar — sheikh, mayor, sheriff.
It was only after the U.S. government selected him for sanctions last week that it learned his real name is Yitzhak Levi Philant.
On paper, Philant is simply Yitzhar settlementIt stands on a hill on the West Bank of the Jordan River south of Nablus, overlooking the ancient Palestinian villages that spread out on the steep slopes below.
But his frequent and arbitrary use of force made him a warlord for the entire Jabal Salman valley. He rose from a group of brutal settler bosses andSpecially designated nationalPresident Trump has been blacklisted by the U.S. Treasury and State Departments for “malicious and unauthorized activity” and is banned from receiving funds from U.S. citizens.
The indictment filed against him last month cited an incident in February this year when “he led a group of armed settlers, set up checkpoints and patrolled Palestinians on their land in order to pursue and attack Palestinians and forcibly expel them from their land.”
It was just one example of the regular string of intimidation attacks that followed the Aug. 28 sanctions. A week earlier, armed men had fired tear gas onto the football field at Blinn High School while children were playing.
“I haven't come here for more than a week because I'm afraid the children will get hurt. I can't take responsibility for that,” said Ghassan Najjar, head of the farming cooperative who also helped with soccer training.
Najjar spoke near a low stone wall at the rear of the stadium, under the watchful eye of armed men at a concrete guard post about 100 metres up the hillside.
He said it was impossible to tell whether they were regular Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers or settlers in uniform – a distinction that has blurred since a Hamas surprise attack on October 7 killed 1,200 Israelis and launched the Gaza war.
Reservists like Philant were called back to duty, and he recruited young male settlers to form what became known locally as “Jacob's Army.” Yitzhar's religious school, known as a yeshiva, was known for teaching Jewish militancy and was closed for more than a year in 2014 for being a base for attacks on Palestinians.
On the afternoon of June 18, the militia went on the offensive, going on a rampage and attacking anyone they found on the streets.
“I saw people running away and at first I thought it was the military. Then I saw men attacking us, shirtless, with T-shirts covering their faces,” Najjar recalled. “They set cars on fire, attacked drivers and attacked a grocery store here.”
He claimed that IDF soldiers arrived in the village soon after the attack began but did not stop it – quite the opposite.
“They didn't drive the settlers away. They started firing rubber bullets, stun grenades and tear gas at the villagers, at the Palestinians,” he said.
Everyone in the region knows the story of “Yakov” and his men. Their white pickup trucks with flashing yellow lights and an antenna on their roofs are a common and feared sight. Yakov and his men are said to have set up makeshift checkpoints between villages, assaulting drivers and stealing their money.
Last March, Idris and Amara Khalifeh were in their son's car with his wife and daughter after finishing their Ramadan shopping when a group of settlers from Yitzhar attacked them, smashing the windows with an axe, hitting Idris with a stone and spraying the passengers with pepper spray.
Their son was able to escape the attack by suddenly reversing the car, but Philant himself blocked their vehicle and gave chase, firing a shot into the back window, the Khalifes said.
“The only reason no one was shot is because these women's faces were burned by pepper spray and they were crouching in their seats to protect our granddaughter,” Amara said.
During harvest season, settlers routinely blocked villagers from accessing the olive trees and sometimes set fire to the hillside olive groves.
According to Najjar and another local man, settlers set fire to the trees in early August and Philanto prevented the village's fire engines from reaching the scene of the blaze for several minutes until the army arrived in a military fire engine, resulting in heavy losses.
Yesh Din, an Israeli human rights group that monitors the area, said it had “documented incidents of violence against Palestinians by Israeli settlers and security forces over the years, including dozens of cases involving Mr. Philant.”
The Yitzhar settlement administration did not respond to emails seeking comment, nor did the Israel Defense Forces. In a statement, the Samaria Regional Council, which represents settlements in the northern West Bank, denied the allegations against Philant and said the sanctions would cause hardship for his family.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he took “very seriously” the US sanctions against Philant and the group Hashomer Yosh, which provides security to illegal settler camps in the West Bank. Biden's decision was also heavily criticised by US Republicans, including Senator Marco Rubio, who said “Israel has a functioning justice system that is fully capable of prosecuting crimes committed on its soil.”
In the occupied West Bank, where any justice system exists is shaky depending on which areas are involved and whether the victims and perpetrators are Israeli or Palestinian, villagers say that in practice soldiers follow Philant's orders.
When a local man threatened to file a complaint about his activities with the IDF's District Liaison Office (DCO), “Yaacov” reportedly told him: “I'm the DCO, I'm a Shabak. [the security agency]”I am the police, I am the military. I am all of them, I am the whole world.”
“On the ground, security coordinators have become like commanders of soldiers, which is the opposite of how it should be,” said Ziv Staal, head of Yesh Din.
Staal said he believes U.S. sanctions against Philant and Hashomer Yosh, combined with scrutiny by the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court since the start of the Gaza war, are finally beginning to threaten the impunity of settlers like Philant.
“I think there is a shift among the Israeli public as more talk about settler violence comes to light,” she argued. “The issue is more often on the media agenda.”
But a letter sent by Yesh Din to the IDF command calling for Philant's firing has so far gone unheeded.
In Brin, Najjar doesn't expect life in his local villages to improve dramatically.
“Do you think this will stop Yacoub?” he asked. “I don't want them to punish Yacoub. I want the US to pressure the government to stop Yacoub. And even if they stop this Yacoub, there are many others like him in the settlement.”
