No arrests made over assault

EU demands ‘full accountability’ after settler attack on diplomats in West Bank

European bloc also calls for 'effective measures' to prevent new attacks during olive harvest season, amid reports of new assaults on Sunday

By Lazar Berman, Nurit Yohanan, ToI Staff and Agencies Today, 6:26 pm
Vehicles at the site where Belgium's foreign minister says masked settlers attacked Western diplomats and officials near Taybeh, in the West Bank, on October 17, 2026. (Emad Diab/via REUTERS)

Condemnation of the Israeli government continued to pour in from abroad on Sunday after a group of visiting European diplomats was attacked by settlers near the West Bank village of Taybeh on Saturday, in an incident that, a day later, has prompted no arrests.

Vehicles belonging to diplomats from France, Belgium and Poland were attacked in the Taybeh area by masked settlers, with footage showing one of the vehicles was pelted with stones and had its window smashed. According to testimonies, seven masked settlers surrounded the diplomatic vehicle and demanded identification documents, then attacked the car.

Those attacked included the Belgian consul general, French and Polish diplomats, and the mayor of a French town.

Amid the outrage over the incident on Saturday, fresh instances of settler violence against Palestinians continued to be reported Sunday.

The European Union “strongly condemns” attacks by violent settlers in the West Bank, including against European diplomats, the bloc’s foreign policy spokesperson said on Sunday.

“We take positive note of statements by several Israeli representatives who condemned the attacks, but we expect full accountability as well as effective measures to prevent continued acts of violence and violent harassment against Palestinians, including during the ongoing olive harvest season, as well as against journalists,” the EU spokesperson said.

The IDF and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar both condemned the attack on Saturday, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed in the aftermath that there was a lack of “compelling evidence” surrounding the affair, and appeared to suggest that the incident was part of a “coordinated smear campaign.”

The French Foreign Ministry also issued a statement on Sunday demanding accountability, after Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot demanded that Israel crack down on “criminal violence.”

The ministry statement called for “Israeli authorities to arrest those responsible for this serious attack and bring them to justice.” It also demanded that Israel “take all necessary measures to put an end to these acts of terrorism and ensure the security of the civilian population and diplomatic missions, as they are required to do under international law.”

Screenshot from video of diplomats attacked by settler extremists in the Taybeh area of the West Bank, October 17, 2026. (Doron Kadash / Army Radio via X)

The attack near Taybeh on Saturday was carried out less than a day after settlers violently assaulted and injured Washington Post photojournalist Heidi Levine.

Both attacks have served to increase international scrutiny of the violence Palestinians have faced at the hands of settlers in the West Bank on a daily basis.

As of Sunday afternoon, no arrests had been made in either incident.

Settler violence against Palestinians has soared this year and spiked further in the weeks leading up to Israel’s October 27 election, coinciding with the annual olive harvest, a period that frequently sees clashes and attacks around Palestinian farmland.

Sunday was no different, bringing fresh reports of settler attacks throughout the West Bank.

Palestinian media outlets reported that settlers had attempted to set fire to a trailer and construction equipment in Wadi Rahim in the south Hebron Hills on Sunday morning.

Footage showed smoke billowing from the trailer entrance, while a man rushed to an excavator and attempted to dump sand, apparently to extinguish the fire.

The extent of the damage to the trailer was unclear, but there were no reports of injuries.

Separately, the Palestinian Authority’s official Wafa news agency reported that settlers blocked farmers from harvesting olives on Sunday in the southern West Bank town of Idhna.

According to the report, the settlers attempted to steal the olive crops from the farmers.

The news agency reported a similar incident in Umm Safa, near Ramallah, where it said settlers raided the olive grove and stole crops from Palestinian farmers.

The reports of theft from olive groves follow a halachic ruling from a hardline settler rabbi on Friday declaring that Jews are allowed to harvest olives from Palestinian lands “to publicly demonstrate our ownership of the land.”

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