Israeli settlers attack foreign pro-Palestinian activists in northern West Bank

Video captured on Sunday shows extremist settlers attack foreign pro-Palestinian activists in the northern West Bank, beating them with clubs and causing injuries to some, including two US citizens.

In Sunday’s incident, a group of men, some masked but others with their faces visible and sporting long pe’ot, or sidelocks, and tzitzit, fringes that are part of traditional male Orthodox attire, were seen attacking the activists and beating them with wooden clubs.

In the video, the group of men is seen approaching the activists and after a short verbal exchange, charges into them while raining down blows with the clubs. Some of the pro-Palestinian activists can be heard imploring them to stop.

According to the “Looking the Occupation in the Eye” organization, which campaigns against West Bank settlements, the assailants were Israelis from the Esh Kodesh outpost. The group said the activists were planting olive trees in the land around the Palestinian town of Qusra, south of Nablus.

Two women who are US citizens were injured, as was a man from the Netherlands, the Ynet outlet reported.

IDF forces who were alerted to the incident arrived and fired shots in the air, causing the Israelis to flee the area, the military said.

According to the IDF, the injured activists were evacuated from the area by the Red Crescent for medical treatment.

“The IDF views any attack and injury to citizens very severely and works to protect public order and security in the region,” the army said.

פיגוע ופצועים. קוסרה
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רמז: המחבלים שלא נעצרו נמצאים בסרטון. @IntlCrimCourt https://t.co/BQo0wB3N8E pic.twitter.com/m0yKnlzyrk

— מסתכלים לכיבוש בעיניים (@Mistaclim) July 21, 2024

The IDF soldiers did not arrest the assailants because they fled the scene. The soldiers also did not report the incident to the police.

According to the Ynet report, the IDF was looking into the soldiers’ handling of the incident.

The Tag Meir coexistence group in a statement said that “security forces must stop the hate campaign by the hilltop youth against innocent Palestinians, IDF soldiers, and now also American volunteers,” using a term for extremist settlers, many of whom are younger and support setting up illegal outposts on hills in the West Bank.

Tag Meir called on security forces to deal with “Jewish terror” as necessary.

The incident came after Friday saw a group of masked Israelis — also apparently extremist settlers — filmed beating a Palestinian woman, 58, and her son, 38, in the village of Shaab al-Butum in the south Hebron Hills area.

The attackers were from the Mitzpe Yair outpost and Avigayil settlement, Ynet reported.

In the video, the group of masked men could be seen approaching a Palestinian home and then attacking several people who were outside. As a brawl developed, one of the Palestinians could be heard calling for an IDF soldier, who appeared and separated between the attackers and the Palestinians, firing a shot into the air, but kept his gun trained in the direction of the Palestinians.

ביום שישי מעט לפני שמונה בערב הגיעו ארבעה רעולי פנים לפתח בית של משפחה בכפר שעב אל-בוטום בדרום הר חברון. הם הגיעו ממש לפתח הבית והכו באלות גבר בן 38 תושב המקום, אנאן אל-נג'אר ולאחר מכן גם את דודתו ובהא א-נג'אר, בת 58 –> pic.twitter.com/gmQNbqh01j

— Nurit Yohanan (@nurityohanan) July 21, 2024

The woman was hospitalized due to her injuries. Palestinian sources said those included a fractured skull.

The IDF said in a statement that “on Friday, documentation was received of an attack on a Palestinian woman and man by a number of masked Israelis in the area south of Mount Hebron. One of the IDF soldiers scrambled to the location fired into the air and stopped the attack. A complaint was filed with the Israel Police.”

Earlier this month the Biden administration issued a fifth batch of sanctions against extremist Israelis, most of which have been targeted for their actions against Palestinians in the West Bank.

The largest yet batch of sanctions was the latest escalation in the administration’s effort to hold Israelis accountable for settler violence, which goes almost entirely unchecked. The outgoing head of the Israel Defense Forces Central Command called out settler leaders for failing to root out extremist residents who have been behind regular attacks on Palestinians, Israeli security forces and left-wing Israeli activists in the West Bank.

On Sunday, the heads of a settlement umbrella group alleged that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had canceled a scheduled meeting with them at the last minute. The Yesha Council said it had wanted to raise the issue of sanctions with Netanyahu before he heads to the US where he is scheduled to speak before Congress, and had hoped he would bring the matter up during his trip, in an effort to have them removed.

The Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement that a full meeting with all Yesha Council leaders had not been set up and that one would be held when Netanyahu returns.