In brief
A convoy of European diplomats, including officials from Belgium, France, Poland and the Catholic Church, was assaulted by masked Israeli settlers in the village of Taybeh near Ramallah. The attack, which involved stone‑throwing and a smashed consular vehicle, drew sharp condemnation from Belgium’s foreign minister, France’s foreign minister, the EU and the United States. Israel’s Defence Forces condemned the violence and said it was investigating, while Prime Minister Netanyahu’s office suggested the incident could be part of a smear campaign. The incident follows another settler assault on a West Bank journalist the day before.
A convoy of European diplomats, including officials from Belgium, France, Poland and the Catholic Church, was attacked by masked Israeli settlers in the Christian village of Taybeh near Ramallah on Saturday. Video footage showed stones thrown at the convoy and a consular vehicle’s window smashed.
Belgium’s foreign minister, Maxime Prevot, condemned the assault and urged Israel to bring those responsible to justice and to protect diplomats, journalists and Palestinian civilians. French foreign minister Jean‑Noël Barrot called the violence “appalling” and urged urgent action to halt the criminal attacks. The European Union likewise denounced the incident and called for Israel to uphold international law and end settlement expansion.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said it “strongly condemns the severe act of violence” that took place in Taybeh and that a preliminary inquiry found no IDF troops on scene. In a separate statement, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office warned that the incident could be part of “a coordinated campaign to smear Israel” and called for caution before drawing conclusions from the social‑media footage.
The attack followed a week of settler violence against Palestinians harvesting olives in the West Bank. Earlier, a United States photo‑journalist, Heidi Levine, was injured by settlers in another village. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and ambassador Mike Huckabee jointly condemned the attacks, urging full legal accountability.
In a statement, the injured French mayor, Bernard Baudoux, described being kicked and beaten with iron bars and said the assault reflected a tolerance of settler violence by Israel’s right‑wing government. He expects that “the whole world needs to know what’s happening.”
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar condemned the violence as “Israeli rioters” and said the foreign ministry was in contact with the ambassadors of the affected countries. He added that coordination with the IDF beforehand would have helped safeguard visitors’ security.
