Israeli settler charged with killing Palestinian for first time since Oct. 7 attacks

A man gets filmed shooting another human being and it takes this long to produce a single murder indictment. That's the part worth sitting with before anyone reaches for a broader argument. Yinon Levi wasn't some anonymous figure either. He'd already been sanctioned by multiple governments for violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, which means Israeli authorities had a file on him well before Awdah Hathaleen ended up dead. This isn't a case of a system that didn't know. It's a case of a system that took its time.

We say this as people who back Israel's right to defend itself without apology, especially after October 7 exposed exactly what its enemies are capable of. But defending a country and excusing every actor who claims to be defending it are not the same thing. Settler violence in the West Bank has been documented for years by Israeli human rights groups, foreign governments, and Israel's own military at times. Pretending it doesn't exist, or waving it away as background noise to a bigger war, does no favors to the actual case for Israeli security.

A justice system's credibility rests on whether it prosecutes its own with the same seriousness it prosecutes its enemies. Two years without a single indictment for a killing caught on camera is not a great advertisement for that seriousness. The fact that it finally happened is a good thing. The fact that it took this long, and this much international pressure via sanctions, is the part that deserves scrutiny rather than a shrug.

None of this changes who started October 7 or who has spent two years using human shields and hiding behind civilians. That accounting isn't going anywhere. But allies get to expect their friends to police their own extremists, not just point at the other side's atrocities as if that settles every question. Levi's indictment should have come faster. Saying so isn't disloyalty. It's what taking the relationship seriously actually looks like.