The former chief of Israel’s intelligence agency has compared settler violence in the Palestinian territories to the way Jews were treated in the Holocaust.

Tamir Pardo was appointed by Benjamin Netanyahu and served as director of Mossad between 2011 and 2016.

“My mother was a Holocaust survivor, and what I saw reminded me of the events that happened against Jews in the last century,” Pardo said. “What I saw today made me feel ashamed to be Jewish.”

Pardo made the comments to Channel 13 while touring Palestinian villages under siege from Israeli settlers wanting to evict the inhabitants.

He described settler attacks as an “existential threat to the state of Israel” and said violence against Palestinians “sowed the seeds” for the next 7 October, Middle East Eye reported.

Pardo was one of 600 retired Israeli security officials who wrote to US president Donald Trump in August 2025 calling on him to put pressure on Israel to end the war in Gaza.

At least 1,750 Palestinians have been displaced by settler violence or having access to their home restricted in 2026, according to a UN report earlier this month.

The report added that such attacks have led to 10 deaths and 385 people injured this year alone.

Tom Midlane is a freelance journalist.

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