LOUIS Theroux has opened up about his new tell-all documentary, where he looks at why the world has “amply demonstrated” its ability to withstand the Israeli atrocities against Palestinians.
The BBC series, Louis Theroux: The Settlers, is due to air this week as the celebrated documentarian returns to the West Bank for the first time in 15 years.
Writing for Deadline News ahead of the release of the series, Theroux said he spent three weeks travelling across the West Bank documenting “the world of the Israeli ultra-nationalists" who have settled in the territory, illegally under international law.
He wrote that when he first visited the region in 2010, he was “struck by the way in which a group of people were able to pursue an openly expansionist ethnonationalist vision while enjoying the benefits of a separate and privileged legal regime to those around them”, while also being protected by the Israeli army.
Theroux said the idea for the documentary came after reading articles in the New Yorker and the New York Times suggesting that with the world’s attention on Gaza, the settler community had cranked up its activities in the region.
Shot in two blocks, Theroux interviewed settlers and their leaders, including the woman known as the “Godmother” of the “settler movement”, Daniella Weiss.
He also visited settlements, including one called Evyatar, which had been authorised by the Israeli government just a few months earlier and is illegal under international law.
Theroux wrote: “I try to hear from those at the heart of a story who, broadly speaking, are viewed as being ‘in the wrong’.
“Naturally, giving airtime to these people can lead to accusations of ‘platforming’. I understand the charge. My decision to film means potentially millions will be exposed to the views of people who may be racist or fundamentalist or bigoted.
He added: “But making a documentary isn’t just a matter of handing someone a megaphone and saying ‘have at it’.
“It’s a process of asking the right questions, challenging, contextualizing. Doing journalism.”
Theroux said The settlers lifts the lid on the beliefs of those who live on occupied land, showing that they are openly anti-democratic and supremacist.
He highlighted the risks associated with drawing attention to forms of exclusionary nationalism when they are perpetrated by people with their own long history of enduring persecution.
However, Theroux said: “It should go without saying that extremists and ideologues exist in all communities.”
He added: “No one should get a pass.”
The documentarian argues that it would be a mistake to allow religious nationalist settlers and their far-right political supporters in government to co-opt Jewish identity and to “write off legitimate criticism of their beliefs” and their actions as an expression of bigotry.
He also conceded that, regardless of how he framed the documentary, he accepts that some may see The Settlers will be seen as anti-Israel.
Theroux concluded that one of the reasons why he wanted to return to the West Bank is that he believes that other countries around the world are looking at occupied territories for “clues as to what their own future might look like”.
He added: “Some global populist leaders view the ideology of the settler community as a prototype for a type of nationalism they would like to practise.
“They regard Israeli settlers as the tip of the spear of what they frame as a global war against Islam.”
The Settlers will air on BBC Two on Sunday at 9pm.
