Tel Aviv / PNN /

  The electoral list of the extremist “Hilltop Youth” organization,  which leads settle terrorism in the occupied West Bank, is competing for influential positions in Tuesday’s elections for members of the Likud Central Committee, the highest decision-making body of the party led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Hebrew newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth revealed on Tuesday the names of several figures behind the list, which is running in the Binyamin settlements district. It turned out that the list includes well-known extremists, as well as their mothers and wives, all aiming to influence the party’s internal decisions, and consequently government policy.

One of the extremists leading the race in the Binyamin branch of Likud is settler Elisha Yard, a resident of the Ramat Migron outpost built on Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank. Yard has been arrested several times, most notably on suspicion of executing Palestinian martyr Qusai Maatan from the village of Burqa, east of Ramallah, in August 2023, after shooting him. Yard is considered one of the leaders of the “Hilltop Youth” and works on establishing settlement outposts on Palestinian land in friction points, attracting many young settlers from inside and outside the settlements.

According to Likud Party regulations, which stipulate a minimum of two years’ membership in order to run for the Central Committee, Elisha Yard himself is not eligible to run. However, his mother is on the list and will compete as part of the “Hilltop Youth” slate. Yard previously served as spokesperson for MK Limor Son Har-Melech of the “Otzma Yehudit” party, headed by Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.

Another right-wing activist running on the Likud Central Committee list is Yehuda Liber from the Oz Zion outpost. According to security sources, Liber was involved during his military service in activities targeting Israeli security forces, leading to a decision not to extend his service. In 2022, during operations carried out by the Civil Administration in the Oz Zion outpost, Liber chained himself to the ground using a metal object in an attempt to obstruct security forces. It took several hours before soldiers from the Home Front Command were able to break the device and arrest him.

Alongside Yard and Liber is the settler Naaveh Schindler, who heads the Hilltop Youth organization and lives in the Tzur Har’el outpost, which was established as an extension of the Oz Zion outpost. Schindler is currently under administrative expulsion from the occupied West Bank due to his involvement in attacks against Palestinians. He was previously investigated by the Shin Bet on suspicion of assaulting innocent Palestinians.

Another right-wing activist mentioned in the context of the elections is Tal Yosheviv, a close associate of National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. Although he is not eligible to run on the “Hilltop Youth” list himself, his wife is included and is competing for a position in the Likud Central Committee. Yosheviv left the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in occupied Jerusalem last summer, where he had been residing, and moved to the Oz Zion outpost, considered one of the most violent outposts and evacuated multiple times.

Competing against the Hilltop Youth slate is the list led by Yisrael Gantz, head of the Mateh Binyamin Regional Council and the Settlements Council (Yesha), along with Likud MK Avihai Boaron. This list is backed by the agricultural settlements movement, which works in cooperation with the army to promote settlement expansion and curb Palestinian construction.

A senior settlement official, who was not named by the newspaper, commented on the Hilltop Youth list, saying: “This group operates in a way that harms the settlement enterprise. First, we condemn violence from beginning to end. But it is wrong to attribute this phenomenon to all settler youth. In the Binyamin branch, we are working effectively. Things today are being managed properly for the benefit of the Land of Israel, while they seek political power and aim to use it in an improper way that could harm the settlement project.”