Israeli soldiers raid home of Palestinian activist featured in Louis Theroux documentary
LONDON: Israeli soldiers have raided the home of Issa Amro, a prominent Palestinian activist featured in Louis Theroux's recent BBC documentary 'The Settlers,' in what he described as a retaliatory move for his appearance in the film.
Amro, co-founder of the non-violent group Youth Against Settlements, posted videos on social media showing confrontations with Israeli soldiers at his home in Hebron, as well as footage of Israeli settlers entering the property.
'The soldiers raided my house today, they wanted revenge from me for participating in the BBC documentary 'the settlers', after the army left the settlers raided my house, they injured one activist and cut the tree, they stole tools and the garbage containers,' he said in a post on X.
The incident comes as Israel intensifies its military operations in the West Bank, even as global attention remains focused on its war in Gaza. Human rights groups have long accused Israeli settlers — often accompanied or protected by soldiers — of conducting near-daily raids on Palestinian communities to intimidate residents and seize land.
The soldiers raided my house today, they wanted to revenge from me for participating in the @BBC documentary ' the settlers' , after the army left the settlers raided my house, they injured one activist and cut the tree, they stole tools and the garbage containers.
The Israeli… pic.twitter.com/jYYYlr2XyS
— Issa Amro عيسى عمرو (@Issaamro) May 3, 2025
Despite repeated condemnation by the international community, attacks by settlers and security forces have grown more frequent and more violent, forcing many Palestinians to abandon their homes.
Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem are considered illegal under international law. The expansion of settlements has drawn comparisons from rights organizations to the apartheid system once seen in South Africa.
Amro, a Nobel Peace Prize nominee, appeared in 'The Settlers,' a follow-up to Theroux's 2012 documentary 'The Ultra Zionists.' In the new film, he guides Theroux through Israeli-occupied Hebron, where around 700 settlers live under heavy military protection among a Palestinian population of roughly 35,000.
The documentary not only examines the daily realities of life under occupation but also explores the religious and ideological motivations driving the settler movement.
Amro said Israeli police threatened him with arrest and told him not to file a complaint. In one video posted on X, he confronts balaclava-wearing soldiers and asks why their faces are covered. One responds: 'You know exactly why.'
. @Issaamro who featured in The Settlers has posted videos of his latest harassment by settlers and soldiers. Our team has been in regular contact with him since the documentary and over the last 24 hours. We are continuing to monitor the situation. https://t.co/asEWKkVX5h
— Louis Theroux (@louistheroux) May 4, 2025
Theroux commented on X that his team is in regular contact with Amro and is 'continuing to monitor the situation.'
The incident echoes a similar case in March, when Hamdan Ballal, a co-director of the Oscar-winning documentary 'No Other Land,' was assaulted outside his home in Susya, a village in the Masafer Yatta area of the West Bank, before being briefly detained. Ballal later claimed he was beaten while in custody and described the attack as 'revenge for our movie.'
In a statement, a spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces denied Amro's claims, saying: 'As the videos clearly show, the soldiers present on May 3 in the Hebron area were there to disperse the confrontation between Palestinian residents and Israeli civilians.'
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