A group of European diplomats was attacked by masked Israeli rioters in the West Bank village of Taybeh on Saturday, according to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the available evidence did not establish the full circumstances of the incident and warned against drawing conclusions before an investigation is completed.
“We urge caution before drawing conclusions from today’s reports that European diplomats were attacked by masked Israelis in Judea and Samaria. Any violence against diplomats is unacceptable. The more serious the accusation, the greater the demand for compelling evidence,” the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said.
Army Radio reported that vehicles used by diplomats from France, Belgium and Poland came under attack during an olive harvest in Taybeh, northeast of Ramallah. Footage published by the station showed stones being thrown at one diplomatic vehicle, a smashed window and a diplomat on the ground.
According to testimony cited by Army Radio, seven masked settlers arrived on ATVs, surrounded a diplomatic vehicle, demanded identification documents and broke a window of a Belgian Consulate vehicle.
The IDF said its preliminary investigation found that no soldiers were at the scene when the incident occurred and that security forces arrived after the rioters had fled.
“The IDF strongly condemns the severe act of violence that took place in the area of Taybeh, during which diplomatic representatives were attacked by Israeli rioters,” the military said.
Police opened an investigation after receiving footage and said investigators were working with the Foreign Ministry to locate those involved, collect testimony and identify suspects. Officers entered the area under IDF protection to gather evidence.
Netanyahu’s office said the delegation had entered “a sensitive area with a history of confrontations” without coordinating with the IDF beforehand, arguing that such coordination was essential to protecting visiting diplomats and preventing violence.
The PMO also said the delegation included Bernard Baudoux, a French Communist Party mayor who previously raised the Palestinian flag over his municipal building, prompting French authorities to order its removal.
Baudoux blamed the incident on what he described as government tolerance of settler violence.
“I think that if settlers are behaving like this, there is a tolerance on the part of the Israeli government,” he told AFP.
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar also condemned the attack while criticizing the lack of advance coordination.
“A police investigation has been opened, and forensic investigators from the Judea and Samaria District are already at the scene collecting evidence. The Foreign Ministry is in contact with the ambassadors of the countries concerned in order to assist the law enforcement authorities, who are working to identify the attackers and bring them to justice,” Sa’ar wrote on X.
“Without detracting from the severity of the incident, it is unfortunate that the visit was not coordinated with the IDF in advance. Such coordination could have helped safeguard the visitors’ security,” he added.
Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot condemned the incident “in the strongest terms,” saying a French mayor had been assaulted and a Belgian vehicle damaged. He pledged to continue pressing the European Union for sanctions against those responsible for settler violence.
“Palestinians face this violence every day. Settlers also target journalists reporting on it and diplomats. Harvesting olives, reporting the news or carrying out diplomatic duties should never put anyone at risk of attack,” Prevot said.
Netanyahu’s office maintained that footage showing masked individuals confronting a diplomatic vehicle, along with images of the damaged window and a person on the ground, did not establish the complete sequence of events or individual responsibility.
The PMO also raised concerns about what it described as a “coordinated campaign to smear Israel and the Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria during the annual olive harvest,” saying allegations could cause reputational damage before the evidence was fully examined.
President Isaac Herzog also referred to the Taybeh incident Saturday evening while speaking with Washington Post photographer Heidi Levine, who was seriously injured in an attack near the Palestinian village of Abu Falah a day earlier.
“I strongly condemn this outrageous and shocking phenomenon of violence — both in the terrible attack you endured and in other serious incidents, such as what happened today in Taybeh,” Herzog said.
