Palestinian in Theroux film tells of targeting by settlers

'I don't feel safe in my own house,' says Issa Amro following months of harassment after he appeared in the documentary

- MAIRA BUTT

An influential Palestinian activist who featured in Louis Theroux’s BBC documentary about the occupied West Bank has described suffering months of harassment and intimidation by armed Israeli settlers.

Issa Amro, a West Bank community leader recently nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and listed as one of Time magazine’s Time100 Next 2025, says Israeli soldiers are assisting settlers in the attacks and turning a blind eye.

After his home was raided in May, shortly after the release of Theroux’s film The Settlers, Mr Amro believes he is being punished for highlighting the plight of Palestinians in the West Bank. “It’s a zoo now,” he tells The Independent. “They’re acting as wild as possible.”

The 45-year-old has been living in his home in the Tel Rumeida area of Hebron for almost 20 years, and says the attacks against him, his family and friends have increased in recent times.

“I don’t feel safe in my own house,” Mr Amro told The Independent. “I always have nightmares that they will come into my house and shoot me.” He added: “They started hating me more after I appeared in the BBC documentary with Louis Theroux. They hated me much more since then.” Between 7 and 8 October 2025, he says, his home was attacked three times in the space of 12 hours.