Activist assaulted in clash with settlers, then arrested; police say 2 activists detained on suspicion of assault, stone-throwing

Jasper Nathaniel and Andrey Kharzhanovsky, two activist-journalists who assist Palestinians in the West Bank, were arrested by police overnight in the South Hebron Hills after footage showed them being attacked by two settlers, at least one of them armed.

Nathaniel is an American citizen, while Kharzhanovsky immigrated to Israel in 2022 and holds Israeli citizenship.

It is unclear how the confrontation began.

In footage published by a third activist who was at the scene, Adele Shoko, the two can be seen in a physical confrontation with two settlers.

Later, one of the settlers, who is armed and at one point appears to raise his weapon at Kharzhanovsky, forces the activist to sit on the ground and shouts, “Sit down, we’ll wait for the police.”

The settlers are subsequently filmed knocking Kharzhanovsky to the ground again.

According to Shoko, Kharzhanovsky lost consciousness several times during the incident but was not taken to a hospital, and instead was arrested alongside Nathaniel.

Footage appears to show Kharzhanovsky looking dazed and unable to sit upright as he is checked by a medic.

Police said in response that “Following a report of an assault and stone-throwing, officers arrived at the scene and detained two suspects for further questioning at the station. The investigation is ongoing. As for [Kharzhanovsky’s] medical condition, he was examined by medical personnel.”

The IDF said that “troops were dispatched to the scene to separate those involved in the confrontation and waited for police to arrive and carry out arrests.”

THIS EVENING: Settlers attacked @the_andrey_x , @AdeleShoko , and @infinite_jaz near the closed gate at the entrance to the village of Umm al-Khair. Andrey suffered a head injury and repeatedly lost consciousness, but was taken to a police station instead of a hospital pic.twitter.com/K3gX8AeblA

— מחוץ לעדר/ kivsa shchora (@masafering) October 28, 2026

???? TODAY: Settler-terrorists attacked Andrey, Jasper and me. This video shows the assault.

Andrey was severely beaten and lost consciousness several times in front of police. Despite this, he was denied hospital treatment. He was put in an ambulance—but instead of being taken to… https://t.co/rL9pBQRlkR pic.twitter.com/mG2raLKNPG

— Adele Shoko (@AdeleShoko) October 28, 2026