European diplomats attacked during West Bank olive harvest visit

European diplomats and Catholic representatives came under attack near Taybeh in the occupied West Bank on Saturday, during a visit linked to the olive harvest. Belgium’s foreign minister, Maxime Prévot, said masked Israeli settlers targeted a group that included Belgian, French and Polish diplomats. Israel’s military condemned what it called a “severe act of violence” against diplomatic representatives by “Israeli rioters”. [1] [3]

Bernard Baudoux, mayor of the French town of Aulnoye-Aymeries, told AFP that attackers kicked him and beat him with iron bars, knocking him to the ground. He said he was not seriously hurt. Footage described by the Associated Press shows Baudoux sitting beside a vehicle; other clips show masked men asking people in a car for identification. Belgium said a vehicle from its consulate had a window smashed, but that its team was safe. [2] [5] [1]

Baudoux was visiting Taybeh to sign a goodwill agreement with the town and had joined the olive harvest. “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,” he told AFP. The Guardian reported that Palestinian olive pickers were also assaulted near Taybeh, including a woman in her seventies and a man who needed six stitches for a head injury. The incident followed a separate attack elsewhere in the West Bank on Friday in which Washington Post photographer Heidi Levine was seriously injured. [2] [3] [4] [5]

Prévot called on Israel to bring those responsible to justice and said Belgium would continue to press for EU sanctions against perpetrators and their supporters. Israel’s foreign minister, Gideon Sa’ar, also condemned the violence and said police had opened an investigation. He said the visitors had not coordinated their trip with the military in advance; the military said a preliminary inquiry found no soldiers were at the scene. [1] [5] [7]

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office urged caution, saying the published images alone did not establish the full sequence of events or individual responsibility. It also raised concerns about a coordinated campaign to smear Israel and settlers, without setting out evidence for that concern in its statement. Reuters reported no immediate announcement of arrests. [6] [3]