Israel bankrolls war crimes in occupied Syrian Golan with $334m settlement expansion plan

Israel has approved a $334 million plan to expand illegal settlements in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights, in a move that Human Rights Watch (HRW) says amounts to the financing of war crimes under international law. The plan, adopted by Israel’s cabinet on 17 April 2026, aims to significantly increase the number of Israeli settlers in the territory by developing the existing settlement of Katzrin into what officials describe as the Golan’s “first city”.  “Israel’s cabinet has put public money behind a war crime in Syria at the same time as it is turbocharging settlement expansion in the West Bank alongside continued impunity for violence against Palestinians there,” said Hiba Zayadin, senior Syria researcher at Human Rights Watch. “A permanent […]