West Bank diplomats attacked; Israel condemns, PM casts doubt

Masked Israeli settlers attacked a delegation of European diplomats visiting Taybeh, a largely Christian village near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, BBC News reported on 17 October. Belgium said a consular vehicle's window was smashed and a French mayor was assaulted.

The delegation included representatives from Belgium, France, Poland and the Catholic Church. They had travelled to the village to assess conditions amid reported near-daily settler attacks on Palestinians gathering their olive harvest.

Footage showed masked settlers confronting the convoy, while reports indicated that stones were thrown. Another video showed a man wearing a French tricolour sash slumped beside a vehicle.

Belgium demands accountability

Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot condemned the assault on his country's consul general and the other envoys. He said Israeli authorities, as the occupying power, must protect Palestinians and ensure the safety of journalists and diplomats.

Prevot called for those responsible to face justice and said Belgium would continue pressing for European Union sanctions against perpetrators of settler violence and their supporters. “Impunity for violent settlers must end,” he said.

The injured French official was identified by Netanyahu's office as Bernard Baudoux, the left-wing mayor of Aulnoye-Aymeries in northern France. Speaking to AFP, Baudoux said settlers kicked him, struck him with iron bars and knocked him to the ground.

Baudoux argued that the attack reflected tolerance of settler violence by Israel's right-wing government. That was his assessment, rather than an established finding about government responsibility. He also stressed that local residents would remain exposed to violence after visiting officials returned home.

Israeli officials offer differing responses

Israel's military condemned the attack on diplomatic representatives, describing those involved as Israeli rioters, and said it was investigating. Its preliminary inquiry indicated that no soldiers were at the scene when the attack occurred.

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar also condemned the violence and said his ministry was communicating with the ambassadors of the countries involved. He added that the visit had not been coordinated with the military beforehand, arguing that coordination could have helped protect the visitors without diminishing the seriousness of the attack.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office took a more sceptical position, urging caution over reports of the incident. It said social-media images did not establish the full sequence of events or individual responsibility, and that police and forensic investigators had opened an investigation.

The office also linked the reports to what it described as concerns about a “coordinated campaign to smear Israel” and Jewish residents of the West Bank during the olive harvest. It did not identify evidence substantiating such a campaign in the statement quoted in the report.

Violence during the olive harvest

The attack on the delegation followed a separate settler assault in another West Bank village the previous day. Several Palestinians and Washington Post photographer Heidi Levine were injured in that incident.

The two incidents put the safety of harvest workers, journalists and visiting officials at the centre of the diplomatic response. Belgium's demand for prosecutions and sanctions accompanied Israeli announcements of investigations; those announcements did not establish individual responsibility.