In rarity, charges filed against Israeli filmed attacking CNN crew in West Bank

Police prosecutors file charges against a young man from Jerusalem accused of attacking journalists, including a CNN media crew, while they were driving in the West Bank.

The reporters were traveling to Sinjil, a village north of Ramallah, to cover the anniversary of the killing of US-Palestinian citizen Sayfollah Musallet, 20, who was allegedly beaten to death by a group of settlers last summer.

According to a CNN report from the day of the July 11 attack, the journalists had just arrived when four settlers, wielding wooden and metal rods, approached their vehicles and tried to block the route.

The defendant, a man in his 20s, is accused of slashing the tires of one of the vehicles with a knife, then jumping atop the second car’s hood and hitting its windshield with a pole.

Israeli settlers armed with clubs, rocks and a knife blocked our way and attacked us & another group of journalists today in the occupied West Bank.
At the same location where settlers beat US citizen Saif Musallet to death, exactly one year ago today.
Our full report will air on… pic.twitter.com/EyvG15AsSo

— Jeremy Diamond (@JDiamond1) July 11, 2026

Police arrested the defendant and three other suspected assailants at the scene shortly after the attack.

The defendant is charged with making threats, unlawful possession of a knife and causing damage to a car, Haaretz reports.

According to the Hebrew daily, police are continuing to probe the other three suspects, who have not yet been indicted.

Such indictments for settler attacks on Palestinians are highly rare, with convictions even less common.