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Masked Israeli settlers attacked a group of European diplomats and public figures, along with Palestinian olive harvesters, in the Christian village of Taybeh near Ramallah on Saturday, wounding a French mayor and smashing the window of a Belgian consular vehicle.
The delegation included representatives from Poland, Belgium and France. Anick Van Calster, Belgium’s consul general in Jerusalem, was among those attacked, and Bernard Baudoux, mayor of the French town of Aulnoye-Aymeries, was injured.
Israel Police said its West Bank district has opened an investigation and that a report was passed to Israel’s Foreign Ministry to help locate the victims.
Amit Orfali, an activist who accompanied the delegation, said he went to the scene with another activist after Palestinians reported that settlers were taking sacks of olives from them.
Seven masked settlers carrying clubs surrounded their vehicles, he said, and demanded to see identification.
“They beat them, threatened to kill us,” Orfali said. He said the French, Belgian and Polish diplomats were already there and that he and the other activist joined them.
“Thanks to them, we were saved,” he said, adding that he saw one diplomat pushed to the ground and noticed the shattered window of the Belgians’ vehicle.
Wieslaw Kucel, head of the Polish Representative Office in Ramallah, told Haaretz that other diplomats at the scene warned the Polish delegation that violent settlers were approaching. The Polish diplomats left in their vehicles and passed the settlers on the road.
Kucel said another country had organized the solidarity visit, but that such trips are always coordinated with Israel’s security establishment, and he questioned whether the military was truly unaware of it.
“Israeli authorities must do something about this. It is unacceptable,” Kucel said, adding that settlers “are deliberately attacking not only Palestinians but also diplomats.”
The Israeli military said it “strongly condemns” the attacks on Palestinian residents and European diplomats.
It said the consulate’s visit was not coordinated with the army, and that such coordination is meant to prevent incidents of this kind. According to a preliminary inquiry, it said, no soldiers were at the scene when the attack took place.
The army said the report of the incident went to the brigade’s operations room, which handles reports from security personnel rather than civilians, and that separate hotlines exist for civilian complaints.
Police officers and forensic investigators from the Judea and Samaria District were entering the area under military protection to collect evidence and take witness statements, it said.
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar also condemned the violence and said police were investigating.
He added that, “without detracting from the severity of the incident,” it was unfortunate the visit had not been coordinated with the army in advance.
Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot condemned the attack and said Israeli authorities, as the occupying power, must protect Palestinians and ensure the safety of diplomats and journalists. “Impunity for violent settlers must end,” he said.
He argued that the violence cannot be separated from what he called Israel’s illegal settlement policy and said Belgium will keep pressing for European Union sanctions against those responsible and those who support them.
Gadi Eisenkot, the main rival of Netanyahu in the upcoming election, said on X that “what is happening in the West Bank is Jewish terrorism under the auspices of the Israeli government.”
He warned of “an unprecedented diplomatic and security crisis” and said a handful of criminals are eroding what little legitimacy Israel has left, endangering security forces and harming both the settlements and national security.
The Taybeh attack was one of several reported settler assaults on Palestinian olive harvesters and activists across the West Bank on Saturday, during the annual harvest season, which traditionally runs through the autumn.
In the southern Hebron Hills, six Palestinians were injured in a settler attack, and sheep were reportedly stolen.
The army said police were investigating competing claims over the incident. Settlers were also reported throwing stones at harvesters in Deir Jarir.
A day earlier, settlers attacked Palestinians in several olive groves, with three people reportedly wounded in Abu Falah, north of Ramallah, according to the Red Crescent.
One of them was Washington Post photographer Heidi Levine, 64, who underwent surgery on her hand on Saturday.
Attacks were also reported in the villages of Burqa and Beit Ummar, where five Palestinians were wounded, and near Turmus Ayya, where three people were hurt and vehicles were set on fire.
Harvesters were also attacked in Ramon.
The Israeli human rights group Yesh Din said it has documented 487 incidents of violence by settlers and soldiers since Sept. 27, an average of 27 a day.
Of those, 234 were related to the olive harvest, the group said.
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