Masked settlers attacked a group of European diplomats during a visit to the occupied West Bank on Saturday (October 17, 2026), Belgium’s Foreign Minister said, on a second straight day of high-profile assaults on Palestinians and others during the sensitive olive harvest.
Activists say Israeli authorities do little to stop attacks that involve weapons ranging from slingshots to guns. At least four people have been killed and more than 100 injured since the harvest began earlier this month, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. An attack Friday (October 16) seriously injured a Washington Post photographer and others.
“In Saturday’s attack in the Christian village of Taybeh, settlers targeted Belgium’s consul general, French and Polish diplomats and Catholic representatives,” Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot said.
“A French mayor was assaulted and a Belgian vehicle damaged. The attacks came less than two weeks before closely contested elections that could end Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s time in office. His government, the most nationalist and far-right in Israel’s history, faces domestic criticism over security failures and international criticism over the treatment of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. Some of the government’s senior officials are settlers themselves.
Earlier reporting noted: Masked settlers made aggressive statements towards the diplomats before kicking Bernard Baudoux, 78, the leftist mayor of the northern French town of Aulnoye-Aymeries, according to witnesses and diplomats who confirmed his identity.
Our team is safe,” Prevot said. He linked the attack to what he called Israel’s “illegal settlement policy” and pledged to push for further European Union sanctions. “Impunity for violent settlers must end,” he added. Orfali said the masked men “threatened to kill us. Israeli police said they had opened an investigation and vowed to work “until everyone who took part in these cases is brought to justice. Foreign Minister Gideon Saar on X condemned the “severe acts of violence by Israeli rioters,” adding that his Ministry was in contact with ambassadors from the countries concerned. One of the latest criticisms has come from China, whose foreign minister, Wang Yi, told Israeli President Isaac Herzog this week that Israel should “stop and revoke the act of forcibly establishing settlements in the West Bank,” a spokesperson said Friday (October 16). Earlier reporting noted: Cars from the French, Belgian and Polish missions had brought diplomats to visit Taybeh, a largely Christian village in the occupied West Bank, when settlers descended to stop Palestinians from gathering olives, witnesses said.
