Palestinian resident, Israeli civil rights activists say they were beaten by extremist settlers near West Bank town

A Palestinian man living on the outskirts of the West Bank Palestinian town of Taybeh and three Israeli civil-wing activists say they were assaulted yesterday by settler extremists on as they tried to rebuild fences torn down by extremists on Wednesday.

Video footage shows one of the extremists punching Charlotte Mandel, a Canadian-Israeli activist in her 50s who was helping rebuild the fences.

According to longtime Palestinian rights activist Rabbi Arik Ascherman, extremist settlers have been breaking down fences around homes on the outskirts of Taybeh over the last three days.

Naif Ka’abanah, a Palestinian resident of the area, tells The Times of Israel he was beaten over the head by extremists from a nearby illegal settlement outpost, and had to be taken to hospital to treat his head wounds. He was subsequently released and returned home.

Three civil rights activists with Ascherman’s Torat Tzedek organization doing what is dubbed “protective presence” activities were also assaulted by the extremists as they tried to stop the fences from being torn down once again, the rabbi says.

Civil rights activist Charlotte Mandel is apparently assaulted by a settler extremist as she tries to defend the home of Naif Ka’abanah on the outskirts of the Palestinian West Bank town of Taybeh, August 6, 2026. (Courtesy Torat Tzedek)

Ka’abanah and Ascherman both allege that despite repeated calls for assistance, the IDF and police failed to come to the scene for several hours.

The IDF and police have not responded to requests for comment.

“There is a fence around my house; they knocked it down [on Wednesday] and so [on Thursday] I made a new fence, and they came to knock it down again,” says Ka’abanah.

“They brought their goats into my house, into the living room. I have children, daughters, a wife at home. We called the police [starting] in the morning; they didn’t come until the settlers had already left [in the] evening,” he continues.

“Every day for two months we call the police when the settlers come and the police only come once the settlers have left. How is it possible for anyone to live in this country if the police don’t function?”

Ascherman says that despite the IDF having imposed a closed military zone order over the area, the settler extremists continue to enter the zone to assault the Palestinians, and the IDF and police fail to detain them.

“The clear refusal of security forces to protect Palestinians and to enforce closure orders against human rights defenders but not against violent settlers has led to a sharp upswing in settler violence in Taybeh in recent days,” says Ascherman.

“‘Do not stand idly by while your neighbor bleeds,’ the Bible commands. For their trouble this afternoon, Torat Tzedek’s human rights defenders were beaten by violent settlers, along with Palestinians.”