(The Turkish Post) – Masked Israeli settlers attacked a convoy of European diplomats in the Palestinian village of Taybeh in the occupied West Bank on Oct. 17, kicking a French mayor and damaging a Belgian diplomatic car during the olive harvest.
The attack on European diplomats drew condemnation from France and Belgium and a rare rebuke of settlers from Israel’s foreign minister. It came 10 days before Israel’s general election and a day after settlers beat an American photojournalist elsewhere in the West Bank.
Settlers attack European diplomats in Taybeh
The delegation included diplomats from France, Belgium and Poland, among them Belgium’s consul general in Jerusalem, as well as French local officials. Settlers descended on the group and on Palestinian families who were picking olives on the edge of the village.
Bernard Baudoux, the 78-year-old mayor of Aulnoye-Aymeries in northern France, said masked settlers shouted insults about France, knocked him down, kicked him and struck him with iron bars. He was seen lying on the ground beside a car but did not need hospital treatment. He had traveled to Taybeh with the French consul general in Jerusalem. The window of a Belgian diplomatic vehicle was smashed, and several Palestinian residents were hurt.
The French officials had traveled to Taybeh in connection with cooperation agreements between the village and towns in France.
“I think that if settlers are behaving like this, there is a tolerance on the part of the Israeli government,” Baudoux said after the attack.
France and Belgium demand action
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said Israeli authorities must arrest those responsible for the attack on the European diplomats and bring them to justice. “They must urgently halt this criminal violence and guarantee the safety of civilian populations,” Barrot wrote on X.
Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot blamed Israel’s settlement policy, which he called illegal, and said Israel, as the occupying power, must protect Palestinians. Belgium called for an end to the impunity of violent settlers.
Israel condemns the attack and opens an investigation
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar wrote on X that he strongly condemned “the severe acts of violence by Israeli rioters in the area of Taybeh.” He also criticized the diplomats for not coordinating their trip with the Israeli military.
Israeli police said they had opened an investigation and were working to identify the suspects. No arrests had been announced by the evening of Oct. 17.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office took a different line. It described the reports as part of a “smear” campaign against Israel and the settlers during the olive harvest.
A Christian village under pressure
Taybeh is a largely Christian village northeast of Ramallah. In July 2025, the heads of churches in Jerusalem accused settlers of setting a fire near the village’s ancient Church of St. George, and U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee visited the village. Israeli police said the church was not damaged and that the cause of the fire was still under investigation.
Settler violence during the olive harvest
At least four Palestinians have been killed and more than 100 injured since this year’s olive harvest started in early October, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. The harvest is a main source of income for thousands of Palestinian families.
On Oct. 16, settlers beat U.S. photojournalist Heidi Levine while she was covering the harvest in the village of Abu Falah. Earlier in October, settlers beat a photographer working for a French news agency.
About 500,000 Israelis live in settlements in the West Bank alongside about 3 million Palestinians. Israel captured the territory in 1967, and most of the world considers the settlements illegal under international law.
Netanyahu, who has championed the settlers during the campaign, faces a close contest in the election on Oct. 27.
