A delegation of European diplomats was attacked by masked Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank. The group, from Belgium, France, Poland and the Catholic Church, had gone to the largely Christian village of Taybeh near Ramallah to assess conditions after almost daily settler attacks on Palestinians trying to bring in the olive harvest.
Video from the scene showed masked settlers confronting the convoy, and reports suggest stones were thrown. Belgian authorities said a consulate car had a window smashed and that a French mayor was assaulted. Footage showed a man wearing a French tricolor sash slumped beside a vehicle.
Belgium condemned the assault on its consul general and the other envoys. Foreign minister Maxime Prevot said Israel had a responsibility to bring those responsible to justice and to ensure the safety of diplomats, journalists and Palestinians. "Palestinians face this violence every day. Settlers also target journalists reporting on it and diplomats. Harvesting olives, reporting the news or carrying out diplomatic duties should never put anyone at risk of attack," he said. Belgium said it will continue to press for EU sanctions against those responsible.
France called the attack "appalling". Foreign minister Jean-Noël Barrot urged Israeli authorities to "urgently halt this criminal violence and guarantee the safety of civilian populations". Poland's foreign affairs ministry called for a "firm response" from Israeli authorities and for "an end to the spiral of violence in the West Bank".
The EU condemned the attacks, urged Israel to abide by international and human rights law, and called for an end to the expansion of settlements. A spokesperson said that while some Israeli officials had condemned the attacks, the EU still expects "full accountability as well as effective measures" to stop continued violence against Palestinians and journalists.
The Israel Defense Forces condemned "the severe act of violence" in the Taybeh area, in which diplomatic representatives were attacked by what they called Israeli rioters, and said they were investigating. A preliminary inquiry found no IDF soldiers at the scene at the time. Foreign minister Gideon Sa'ar said he strongly condemned the violence and that his ministry was in contact with the ambassadors of the countries involved. He added that, without detracting from the severity of the incident, it was unfortunate the visit had not been coordinated with the IDF in advance, saying such coordination could have helped safeguard the visitors' security.
The office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged "caution before drawing conclusions". It said social-media images "do not establish the complete sequence of events or individual responsibility", that the circumstances remain under investigation, and that Israeli police and forensic investigators have launched an inquiry to establish the facts and identify those responsible. The office said the reports come amid concerns about a "co-ordinated campaign to smear Israel" and Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria during the annual olive harvest, "relying on sensational headlines before the full facts emerge".
Netanyahu's office named the injured French official as Bernard Baudoux, the left-wing mayor of Aulnoye-Aymeries in northern France. He told AFP the attack showed a tolerance by Israel's right-wing government for settler violence, and said the settlers kicked him and beat him with iron bars, throwing him to the ground. "It's the gratuitous nature of the violence that stuns me," he said. "They arrived completely enraged." He added: "The whole world needs to know what's happening there. For me, I'll go back to my country and everything will be fine. Those who continue to suffer the most are those who are here."
The assault came a day after Palestinians and Heidi Levine, a Washington Post photographer, were injured in a separate settler attack in another West Bank village. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called that attack "disturbing" and "not a good look". US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee called it a "despicable act of terror carried out by masked cowards" and said the assailants must face "prosecution to the fullest extent of the law".