European diplomats say they were attacked by masked Israeli settlers during a visit to the West Bank village of Taybeh near Ramallah, according to BBC reporting. Belgium condemned an assault on its consul general and other envoys; France called the episode “appalling.” Israel’s military condemned the violence, while the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged caution and raised concerns about a “co-ordinated campaign to smear Israel.”
What happened in Taybeh
The delegation included diplomats from Belgium, France, Poland, and the Catholic Church, who had arrived to assess conditions amid near-daily settler-Palestinian confrontations during the olive harvest, the BBC reported. Video from the scene showed masked men confronting the convoy. Reports cited by the BBC said stones were thrown. Belgium said a consular vehicle’s window was smashed and that a French mayor was assaulted. Video showed a man wearing a French tricolor sash slumped beside a vehicle.
Injuries and claims
Netanyahu’s office identified the injured French official as Bernard Baudoux, the mayor of Aulnoye-Aymeries. Baudoux told AFP the attackers kicked him and beat him with iron bars, throwing him to the ground, and described the violence as “gratuitous,” according to the BBC account.
European responses
Belgium’s foreign minister Maxime Prévot condemned the attack and said Israel must bring those responsible to justice, ensure the safety of diplomats, journalists, and Palestinians, and pressed for EU sanctions against those responsible for the violence, per the BBC. France’s foreign minister Jean-Noël Barrot called on Israeli authorities to “urgently halt this criminal violence and guarantee the safety of civilian populations.” Poland’s foreign ministry urged a “firm response” from Israel and an “end to the spiral of violence in the West Bank.”
What Israel is saying
Israel’s foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar said he strongly condemned the violence by “Israeli rioters” and noted the foreign ministry was in contact with the relevant ambassadors. He added that the visit had not been coordinated with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and that such coordination could have helped safeguard the visitors. The IDF said it “strongly condemn[s] the severe act of violence” and that, according to a preliminary inquiry, no soldiers were present at the time.
Netanyahu’s office urged “caution before drawing conclusions,” saying social media images did not establish the full sequence of events or individual responsibility and that Israeli police and forensic investigators had launched an inquiry. It added that the reports arose amid concerns about a coordinated effort to smear Israel and Jewish residents of the area during the olive harvest season, the BBC reported.
Context: a separate attack the day before
The Taybeh incident followed a separate attack a day earlier in another West Bank village in which Palestinians and Heidi Levine, a Washington Post photographer, were injured, according to the BBC. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the attack on Levine “disturbing” and “not a good look.” The U.S. ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, condemned it as a “despicable act of terror carried out by masked cowards” and said the assailants must face prosecution “to the fullest extent of the law.”
EU position
The EU condemned the attacks, urged Israel to abide by international and human rights law, and to end settlement expansion. A spokesperson said they expect full accountability and effective measures to stop continued violence against Palestinians and journalists, while acknowledging that some Israeli officials had condemned the incidents, per the BBC.
