Settlers attack European diplomats day after severely injuring Washington Post journalist

A group of European diplomats was attacked by several masked Israelis near the Palestinian Christian town of Taybeh on Saturday. 

The diplomats, who had arrived to observe the olive harvest in the area near the Palestinian city of Ramallah, north of Jerusalem, were attacked by a group of masked Jewish youth in the outskirts of Taybeh. 

Videos and photos taken during and after the event show the youth surrounding the vehicle. In some of the pictures, a window of one of the vehicles is broken. This was shortly after the group of youth, some carrying clubs, surrounded the vehicle and began demanding the driver present identification. 

The diplomats were traveling in vehicles with diplomatic license plates, in an area which is under joint Palestinian and Israeli security jurisdiction. 

According to testimony of the diplomatic convoy, the youths began pelting the vehicle of the Belgian consulate with stones after the driver declined to show identification. 

In a later photo, one of the diplomats, French Mayor Bernard Baudoux, from the northern French town of Aulnoye-Aymeries, is seen lying on the ground after a confrontation with the youth. 

🚨BREAKING: A diplomatic delegation comprising representatives from France, Belgium, and Poland came under attack by Israeli settlers while attending the olive harvest in the Palestinian village of Taybeh, in the occupied West Bank. Footage appears to show Bernard Baudoux, mayor of Aulnoye-Aymeries in northern France, on the ground following the assault. Masked Israeli settlers also smashed the windows of a Belgian consular vehicle and demanded identification documents.

— Kegham Balian (@kbalian90) October 17, 2026

Baudoux later told the Agence France-Presse (AFP) that he was hit with iron bars and kicked by the youth, as some of them yelled derogatory comments about France. 

“I think that if settlers are behaving like this, there is a tolerance on the part of the Israeli government,” Baudoux said. “The whole world needs to know what's happening.” 

He told the Associated Press that after exiting his vehicle, he “was thrown to the ground” by the masked Israelis. 

Belgian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Maxime Prevot, condemned the attacks, saying his country will “press for EU sanctions against those responsible for this violence and those who support them.” 

The Israel Police said it has launched an investigation into the attacks based on footage from the scene. 

“Upon receiving the footage, police opened an investigation, and the Foreign Ministry was also notified to locate the victims, collect testimony, and identify the suspects so they can be brought to justice,” the police said in a statement. 

The police also said it “condemns violence of any kind and will pursue these investigations to ensure that all those involved in these incidents are brought to justice.” 

The IDF also issued a statement condemning the attack carried out by “Israeli rioters,” while noting that the diplomatic group had not coordinated its visit with the military ahead of time. 

“The IDF strongly condemns the severe act of violence that took place in the vicinity of the village of Taybeh, within the district of Binyamin (Benjamin), during which diplomatic representatives were attacked by Israeli rioters,” the statement said. “The consulate’s tour was not coordinated with the IDF; such coordination is essential for preventing incidents of this nature.” 

The military said no units were in the area at the time of the attack, while saying, “The entire incident will be investigated.” 

The attack on the European diplomats came one day after a group of settlers was seen hitting and kicking Washington Post journalist Heidi Levine, who required hospitalization for severe lacerations to her hand, and several broken vertebrae. 

Levine later testified that the assailants “were kicking me for like 10 minutes and I was trying to hold onto my cameras and my bag.” 

In a video shared online, the group of apparently Jewish assailants can be seen pushing her to the ground, hitting and kicking her, while removing some of her equipment. 

This video captures settlers beating Heidi. They clubbed her, kicked her. Pulled her up off the ground to beat her more. Robbed her of all her equipment. If she didn’t have a helmet—and if she was Palestinian—she could be dead. https://t.co/hKV5coFvaD

— jasper nathaniel (@infinite_jaz) October 16, 2026

“I was attacked, pushed to the ground,” Levine said in a statement to press from her hospital bed. “Luckily I had my flak jacket and helmet, otherwise I probably wouldn't even be here, because they just kept kicking me and kicking me.” 

U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee issued a statement condemning the attack as a "vicious & cowardly attack."

Huckabee said his office is calling "for a full investigation, arrest, and prosecution to the fullest extent of the law to whoever participated in this."

Heidi Levine, photojournalist for @wapo suffered serious injuries from vicious & cowardly attack. Heidi is US Citizen, clear ID as journalist. Details of who under investigation, but those who attacked unarmed reporter should spend YRS in prison. We have called for a full investigation, arrest, and prosecution to the fullest extent of the law to whoever participated in this. Attacking a female photographer is despicable act of terror carried out by masked cowards. Dishonorable act of senseless violence.

— Ambassador Mike Huckabee (@GovMikeHuckabee) October 17, 2026

Levine later underwent surgery on her finger, which was described as being nearly detached from her hand, with bone and tendon being visible in the laceration. 

Some settler leaders later claimed that the incident was provoked by a group of Palestinians, who arrived at the planned olive harvest with slings and began using them to attack the Jewish settler group who had come to observe the harvest and prevent the Palestinians from approaching their nearby settlement. 

Earlier this year, a senior Israeli military official complained on Channel 12 News that the Shin Bet security agency is failing to take Jewish violence in Judea and Samaria seriously. 

The official claimed that the department of the Shin Bet dedicated Jewish violence, called the “Jewish Division,” was “doing very little — the minimum.” 

He also noted that every time the military disbands illegal settler outposts, they are reestablished almost immediately. He said that 60 such outposts have been dismantled and rebuilt just in the last year. 

The official also said that some nationalist rabbis have been inflaming the situation, issuing rulings allowing Jewish to harvest the olives of Palestinians, and granting halachic exemptions for settler activists to drive on Shabbat to participate in confrontations with Palestinians. 

Recently, Rabbi Dov Lior, the former chief rabbi of Kiryat Arba, issued such a halachic ruling, claiming that Jews have the right to harvest the olives from Palestinian lands. 

Rabbi Lior, who believes that the command to Joshua from the Bible to conquer the land is still in effect, said in his ruling, “the Jewish people have never given up on the Land of Israel, as we express in our prayers every single day.” 

“The Arabs never purchased the land from the Jewish people or from any individual Jew, and therefore it is stolen land in their hands,” he argued. “The olive harvest demonstrates our ownership of the land, and through it we fulfill the commandment to conquer the land.” 

This statement was attacked by the Tzohar group of religious Zionism rabbis, who stated that “theft is forbidden from anyone, Jew or non-Jew alike.” 

More recently, former Shin Bet chief Yoram Cohen, who is running with Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar party, warned that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could deliberately allow an escalation of tensions in Judea and Samaria ahead of the elections for political reasons. 

Speaking on public broadcaster Kan News’ Reshet Bet radio program, Cohen shared his concern. 

“I don’t want to make unequivocal statements, but a justification for a security situation and escalation can always be found,” he stated.