Masked men attacked diplomats from Poland, France and Belgium on Saturday as they visited an olive harvest near Taybeh, described as the last entirely Christian village in the West Bank. Video from the scene shows a group approaching a vehicle carrying diplomats with clubs and stones and pursuing them on all-terrain vehicles. About seven rioters are believed to have taken part. The assault also targeted Palestinian olive pickers in Taybeh, an area designated Area B under the Oslo Accords, where the Palestinian Authority exercises civil control and Israel retains overriding security responsibility.
In later footage, Bernard Baudoux, mayor of the French town of Aulnoye-Aymeries, is seen sitting on the ground with his back against a vehicle, wearing an armband displaying the French flag. A separate image shows a shattered window in a vehicle belonging to the Belgian consulate. The mayor of Taybeh said settlers had attacked foreign diplomatic delegations visiting the village during the olive harvest.
Activists Amit Orpeli and Roni Federman of Torat Tzedek said they drove to a larger nearby grove after reports of a major settler attack. "We drove there, and seven masked settlers armed with clubs immediately came toward us," they told ynet. "We didn't recognize them. They weren't people from the nearby settlement whom we know." Orpeli said the attackers were particularly violent, arrived on ATVs and threatened to kill them. "We notified the army in real time, but they didn't come or respond," he said. Palestinian landowners who fled also reported that settlers had stolen olives they had already harvested.
Belgian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot condemned the attack, saying masked settlers in Taybeh had targeted Palestinians, Belgium's consul general, French and Polish diplomats and Catholic representatives. He said a French mayor had been assaulted and a Belgian diplomatic vehicle damaged, and confirmed that Belgian personnel were safe. Prévot said Palestinians face such violence daily and that settlers have also targeted journalists documenting the attacks and diplomats carrying out their duties. Harvesting olives, reporting the news and conducting diplomatic work should never expose anyone to such attacks, he said. He linked the violence to Israel's settlement policies, which he condemned as illegal, and to what he described as attempts to forcibly remove Palestinians from their land. He called for an end to the occupation and to impunity for violent settlers, and said Belgium would continue pressing for European Union sanctions against those responsible and those supporting them.
The IDF condemned the violence near Taybeh, saying Israeli rioters had attacked diplomatic representatives in the area under the Binyamin Regional Brigade. Police officers and forensic investigators from the Israel Police West Bank district were entering the area under IDF protection to collect evidence, document the scene and take witness statements. The military said the consular visit had not been coordinated in advance and that such coordination was important in preventing incidents of this kind. A preliminary inquiry found no troops at the location when the attack occurred. A report about the incident was sent to an account at the brigade operations center intended for security personnel rather than civilians. The center receives dozens of operational reports each day and responds only to authorized security officials; other channels are available for civilian complaints. The IDF said the entire incident would be examined.
Israel Police said the Binyamin station in its West Bank district opened an investigation after footage circulated showing an attack on several diplomats near Taybeh. Police said the Foreign Ministry had been notified to help locate the victims, obtain their statements and identify the suspects so they could be prosecuted. The police condemned violence of any kind and pledged to pursue those responsible.
Democrats Party chairman Yair Golan called the reported attack a serious and dangerous development requiring an immediate and decisive response. He accused the Netanyahu-Smotrich coalition of allowing nationalist violence to escalate and warned that Jewish terrorism in the West Bank threatened the rule of law, Israel's security, IDF soldiers and the country's international standing. He called for Jewish terrorism to be fought with the same determination as Palestinian terrorism, including restoring administrative detention against dangerous Jewish extremists in accordance with the law, dismantling centers of extremist violence, evacuating illegal outposts and arresting and prosecuting those responsible. He said that if his party returned to power, the IDF, Shin Bet and Israel Police would receive full backing to enforce the law and restore security and order in the West Bank.
Palestinians reported another incident in which settlers allegedly blocked a vehicle carrying foreign activists on the Khallet al-Homs road, south of Yatta in the southern Hebron Hills. Earlier Saturday, IDF and Border Police forces were sent to the Shirat Zion outpost near Beit Lid in the northern West Bank after clashes between Israelis and Palestinians. Settlers were suspected of arriving to disrupt Palestinian olive harvesting, with initial reports that both sides had thrown stones and several Palestinians had been injured. Hours later, accounts conflicted over how an Israeli civilian was injured. Settlers initially reported a vehicle-ramming attack; a subsequent account suggested Israelis had stolen a Palestinian vehicle and crashed it; another version claimed the vehicle belonged to Arab Israelis attempting to flee who struck a settler. The circumstances remained disputed.
The Taybeh assault comes as condemnation continues over the attack on Washington Post photographer Heidi Levine, who underwent surgery Saturday on a finger of her left hand that was nearly severed, according to her daughter, Ashley Milner. Hundreds of former senior Israeli security officials sent Levine a letter of apology, describing what they said was the daily targeting of innocent people in the West Bank and warning that such violence was damaging Israel's security and international standing. They criticized senior government officials and lawmakers who, they said, encourage violence, and called for a fundamental change in government policy. The letter was signed by members of Commanders for Israel's Security, a movement of about 600 former senior officials from the IDF, Mossad, Shin Bet, police and diplomatic service, and by members of a forum of about 200 former police commissioners and senior police officers. Signatories included former IDF chief of staff and defense minister Moshe "Bogie" Ya'alon, former Mossad director Tamir Pardo, former Shin Bet director Ami Ayalon, former police commissioner Moshe Karadi, former deputy IDF chief of staff and deputy defense minister Matan Vilnai, former heads of the IDF Central Command, Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities President Prof. David Harel and legal expert Talia Sasson.
Taybeh residents have long warned of growing pressure on their community. During an earlier visit for Ynet's filmed series In No Man's Land, Rabbi Benny Lau spoke with Father Jacques, a local church leader, who described despair among residents and recalled the period before the Second Intifada and the Oslo Accords as simpler and more peaceful. He said he could then drive to Jaffa, while Israeli settlers would stop in the village to buy popsicles and ice cream for their children. Residents say 15 families have left Taybeh since the October 7 massacre, moving to countries around the world.