An influential Palestinian activist who featured in Louis Theroux’s BBC documentary about the West Bank has described suffering months of harassment and intimidation by armed Israeli settlers.
Issa Amro, a West Bank community leader recently nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and listed as one of Time magazine’s Time100 Next 2025, says Israeli soldiers are assisting settlers in the attacks and turning a blind eye.
After his home was raided in May, shortly after the release of Theroux’s film The Settlers, Mr Amro believes he is being punished for highlighting the plight of Palestinians in the West Bank.
“It’s a zoo now,” he tells The Independent. “They’re acting as wild as possible.”
The 45-year-old has been living in his home in the Tel Rumeida area of Hebron for almost 20 years, and says the attacks against him, his family and friends have increased in recent times.
“I don’t feel safe in my own house,” Mr Amro told The Independent. “I always have nightmares that they will come into my house and shoot me.”
He added: “They started hating me more after I appeared in the BBC documentary with Louis Theroux. They hated me much more since then.”
Between 7 and 8 October 2025, he says, his home was attacked three times in the space of 12 hours.
Israeli soldiers forced their way into Mr Amro’s home and detained his childhood friend and neighbour, Mohammed Natsheh, on the afternoon of 7 October as he looked after Mr Amro’s property in his absence. After Mr Natsheh tried to film the soldiers, CCTV footage shows him being dragged away by them. He was released to a Palestine Red Crescent Society ambulance after seven hours, and barred from returning to the area. He has been forced to move to a different district as a result.
In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said: “Forces were dispatched to the Jewish neighbourhood in Hebron within the Judea Brigade. When the individual did not respond to IDF requests and warnings, he was detained by the forces. During the detention, he fainted and was immediately evacuated for medical treatment.”
But both Mr Amro and Mr Natsheh say Mr Natsheh was registered with checkpoints allowing passage into the area. Mr Amro says the removal of Mr Natsheh has impaired his support network, and that he is being made to feel “isolated” from his community.
On the same day, footage then shows several Israeli settlers surrounding Mr Amro’s home, along with what appear to be armed soldiers. Mr Amro says they stayed for hours and taunted him about the death of his brother, joking that his son had been arrested.
The following day, at around 1.50am on the night of 8 October, Mr Amro said, he was shaken by the sound of his door being tampered with. CCTV footage shows a group of armed Israeli settlers outside his gates in a large group.
Footage then appears to show one of the settlers climbing up the wall of Mr Amro’s house to remove the CCTV camera. Damningly, this activity appears to have been watched by an Israeli soldier, who does nothing to stop the settler.
The camera then shows rocks being thrown at Mr Amro. Soldiers entered his home to arrest him, he says, after they accused him of throwing rocks.
He said he was left terrified by the incident, and was convinced that the worst would happen: “I thought they were going to come and shoot me in my bedroom.”
German citizens Michael, 55, and Sabine Friedrich, 60, witnessed the incidents as they were staying with Mr Amro on 7 and 8 October.
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“It seemed like they were going to kill him,” Mr Friedrich told The Independent. “Because they thought he was alone, but they didn’t realise he had Europeans with him. They were armed with what seemed like M16s. They emerged from the bushes, and it seemed like an ambush. They behaved worse than any school bullies I’ve ever seen.”
The IDF said: “On October 8, 2025, a friction occurred between Israeli civilians and Palestinians. IDF soldiers were dispatched to the scene and separated the parties involved until the Israel Police arrived.”
On 24 October, friends and neighbours who had been in Mr Amro’s company were asked to leave his home after it was declared to be in a “closed military zone”. However, while maps shown to Mr Amro indicate that his living space is surrounded by a military area, in fact, his land is an island within it.
The IDF denied his home had been declared to be in a closed zone: “Contrary to claims, Issa Amro’s home is located outside the closed military area, and he is permitted to host people within the framework of the law.”
But the activist believes he is being intimidated in an effort to put him off campaigning and speaking out, and to force him to leave his home.
The activist said he contacted the Israeli police, who failed to take the issue further. The police have not replied to The Independent’s request for comment.
The intimidation is part of an escalating pattern of violence in the West Bank. Footage released this week appears to show Israeli soldiers shooting dead two Palestinians in the West Bank, despite their having lifted their shirts and hands to show they were unarmed.
Last month, a 10-year-old boy was shot dead by Israeli forces, while viral footage showed an elderly woman being clubbed by Israeli settlers. More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since 7 October, with visitors and residents warning that the situation is worsening by the day.
On 23 October, the Knesset gave preliminary approval to internationally condemned plans to annex the West Bank.
The groups have been condemned by the United Nations as well as the UK and US governments. On Thursday, the UK, France, Germany and Italy condemned settler violence in the area.
