European Diplomats Say Israeli Settlers Beat Them in the West Bank Village of Taybeh

European diplomats said they were assaulted by Israeli settlers while visiting the occupied West Bank on Saturday, and Israeli police said they have opened an investigation. The police statement said the inquiry followed footage circulating online that appears to show several diplomats being attacked near the village of Taybeh, and that officers were working to locate the victims and identify the suspects "with the aim of bringing them to justice."

Israel's military condemned what it called a "severe act of violence" in which diplomatic representatives were "attacked by Israeli rioters." It said the diplomats' visit had not been coordinated with the army and that no soldiers were at the scene. Israeli public broadcaster Kan reported that the diplomats included representatives from France, Belgium and Poland.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office condemned the reports but urged caution. "Any violence against diplomats is unacceptable," a statement said, adding that "the more serious the accusation, the greater the demand for compelling evidence." The office said the delegation "entered a sensitive area with a history of confrontations" without coordinating with the military, and that the online footage shows masked individuals confronting a diplomatic vehicle but does not establish the full sequence of events. It said the reports came "amid concerns about a coordinated campaign to smear Israel and the Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria during the annual olive harvest."

Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot said on social media that settlers targeted Belgium's consul general, French and Polish diplomats and Catholic representatives. "A French mayor was assaulted and a Belgian vehicle damaged. Our team is safe," he wrote. He tied the attack to what he called Israel's "illegal settlement policy" and called on Israeli authorities to protect Palestinians as the "occupying power." He added that "harvesting olives, reporting the news or carrying out diplomatic duties should never put anyone at risk of attack."

Bernard Baudoux, the mayor of the northern French town of Aulnoye-Aymeries, told Agence France-Presse he was attacked during a goodwill visit to Taybeh and was not seriously injured. He said the attackers kicked him, beat him with iron bars and threw him to the ground. "It's the gratuitous nature of the violence that stuns me," he said. "They arrived completely enraged." Netanyahu's office noted that Baudoux had previously raised the Palestinian flag over his town's municipal building, prompting French authorities to order its removal.

Poland's foreign ministry confirmed the incident and said its representatives were unharmed. It said that, based on current information, "there is no indication that they were specifically targeted," though it said Israeli settlers may have been responsible. The ministry said it was "deeply outraged" and condemned the incident "in the strongest possible terms."

The attack followed a similar one on Friday in which several people were seriously injured, including Heidi Levine, a veteran American freelance photojournalist working with The Washington Post. Her daughter, Ashley Milner, told the Associated Press that Levine was undergoing surgery Saturday on a finger that was nearly detached from her hand, and that she also has a broken rib, multiple broken vertebrae and lacerations. U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee called for a full investigation and for the arrest and prosecution of anyone involved, calling the attack on Levine a "despicable act of terror carried out by masked cowards."

Violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank has surged in recent years. Netanyahu has condemned it and vowed a crackdown on what he describes as a small group of several hundred wayward youths. Human rights groups and critics say the government is complicit and that his condemnation amounts to posturing, because the Israeli military often intervenes on the settlers' side and perpetrators are rarely prosecuted.