Louis Theroux to interview Israeli settlers in the West Bank in new documentary

Renowned documentarian Louis Theroux has been commissioned by the BBC to produce a new documentary.

Theroux will travel to the West Bank to investigate a growing ultra-nationalist community of Israeli settlers, in Louis Theroux: The Settlers.

“In 2010, I made a programme called The Ultra-Zionists that looked at the extreme end of the Israeli settler community in the West Bank,” said Theroux. “Since then, those same extreme settlers are even more emboldened.”

Settlers in the West Bank have increased efforts to control the area since the Hamas attack on October 7 2023, in which 1,200 Israelis were killed. The movement has continued to attempt to force out Palestinian communities, often violently.

The expansionist movement has gained support in the Israeli cabinet and military, with key positions holding influence over military activities and the future of the conflict.

Since October 7, a conservative estimate of 47,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza by Israeli forces.

“In going back to the West bank, I wanted to see settler expansionism up close, and the human cost it entails,” Theroux continued. “It’s a story specific to a time and a place and a region, but it’s also a universal insight into tribalism and the ways in which we can blind ourselves to the humanity of those around us.”

Theroux will embed himself in the West Bank, interviewing prominent settlers and travelling around the area to understand the consequences of the movement's activity.

“After more than 25 years of documentary making, Louis Theroux’s appetite for tackling difficult and complex subject matters remains completely undiminished,” said Clare Sillery, Head of Commissioning at BBC Documentaries. “I look forward to him bringing his humanity and curiosity to this most challenging and timely of stories.”