European diplomats and officials were attacked on Saturday amid a surge in settler pogroms across the occupied West Bank in recent weeks, coinciding with olive harvest season. The settler pogroms have escalated just weeks before Israel heads to the polls on October 27. The European Union (EU) on Sunday condemned settler attacks on European diplomats and Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
A day earlier, a veteran American journalist working for the Washington Post was also brutally attacked. But this is not the first time Israeli settlers have assaulted foreign officials or prominent Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. Here’s a timeline of some of the recent and past attacks: Israeli settlers assaulted European diplomats, including a French mayor, near the Palestinian village of Taybeh in the occupied West Bank.
The delegation was visiting Palestinian olive harvesters on Saturday when the Israeli attackers confronted the group. In Saturday’s incident, the settlers targeted Belgium’s consul general, French and Polish diplomats, and Catholic representatives, Belgian Minister of Foreign Affairs Maxime Prevot said. Bernard Baudoux, the French mayor who was assaulted, told the news agency the attack suggests that “there is a tolerance on the part of the Israeli government” towards settler violence.
Video shared by an activist at the scene, Amit Orfali, shows Baudoux leaning against a vehicle while sitting on the dusty ground. Other clips showed young masked men knocking insistently on a driver’s side window and asking for identification, while other masked men carrying sticks advanced in the distance. Orfali said the masked men “threatened to kill us”.
France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot called on Israel to arrest the “extremist settlers” who “violently assaulted” Baudoux, and bring them to justice. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has, however, appeared to question the reports of the attack on the Europeans, saying on X that they are “alleged” and require “compelling evidence”, despite acknowledging that published footage of the incident exists. Levine fell to the ground during the assault before she was set upon, witnesses said.
Levine later told reporters that her attackers “just kept kicking me and kicking me, like probably 50 times”. Levine was wearing a protective vest marked “PRESS” on the front and back. Her cameras and phone were taken from her during the assault, the Washington Post reported.
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