In brief
European diplomats travelling through the village of Taybeh near Ramallah were assaulted by masked Israeli settlers, with stones hurled at their convoy. Belgian and French officials condemned the attack and demanded accountability, while Israel’s Prime Minister's office questioned the narrative as part of a smear campaign. The incident follows a wave of settler violence against Palestinians during the olive harvest season and has drawn international criticism, including from the U.S. and the EU.
A delegation of European diplomats has been attacked by masked Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank. The assault took place in the largely Christian village of Taybeh near Ramallah, where envoys from Belgium, France, Poland and the Catholic Church were assessing daily settler violence against Palestinian olive harvesters.
Belgium’s foreign minister Maxime Prevot condemned the attack on its consul general and called for Israel to bring those responsible to justice, adding that EU sanctions would be pursued. France’s Foreign Minister Jean‑Noël Barrot described the incident as “appalling” and urged Israeli authorities to halt criminal violence and ensure safety for civilians, journalists and diplomats.
Israel’s Prime Minister’s office warned against drawing premature conclusions, stating that the images circulating have not established the complete sequence of events. Israeli police and forensic investigators are currently probing the incident, with the IDF noting it had no soldiers present at the time of the attack.
The attack follows a wave of settler aggression against Palestinians during the local olive-harvest season, including an assault earlier that week that wounded several Palestinian harvesters and journalist Heidi Levine. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Ambassador Mike Huckabee described the video of the assault as disturbing and called for full prosecution of those who carried it out.
Image: Masked settlers confronting a European diplomatic convoy in Taybeh, West Bank. 
Image: Palestinian women harvesting olives in the West Bank, illustrating the broader context of settler violence. 
