An Israeli leader's claim that his settlers are peaceful victims is being flatly contradicted by the numbers, in a story bad for Netanyahu's credibility and worse for Palestinians in the West Bank.

• Netanyahu said settlers are 99.9% law-abiding and blamed the violence on Palestinian "terrorists," even claiming Palestinians machine-gun Israeli families.
• The record points the other way: the UN counts thousands of settler attacks on Palestinians since 2023, with dozens of Palestinians killed in the West Bank this year.
• Settlers are heavily armed with American weapons, while Palestinians mostly throw stones; ten Americans have been killed with no arrests.
• Even in the rare cases Israel does prosecute settlers, the conviction rate is tiny, and most attacks bring no charges at all.
• The broader charge is that US cable news platforms Netanyahu constantly without fact-checking him, unlike the scrutiny given to Trump.

Outlook: Expect continued settler violence and little accountability, with hopes pinned on US midterm elections to shift Washington's stance.