Ten arrested in connection with settler attacks on European diplomats and press photographer
Josh Breiner and Matan Golan report in Haaretz on 19 October 2026:
Israel Police arrested 10 suspects on Monday in connection with weekend attacks on a European diplomatic delegation and Washington Post photographer Heidi Levine in the West Bank. Border Police, the Israel Defense Forces and the Shin Bet security service participated in the arrests. The security agencies said several vehicles were seized and evidence linking the suspects to the violence was found.
In a statement, Israel Police said the arrests were part of an operation dubbed “Olive Leaf,” launched in several locations in the Benjamin region following weekend violence, including the attack on a foreign journalist and the suspected attack on foreign diplomats in Taybeh. The operation also targeted people suspected of violating orders issued by the military commander and entering closed military zones.
Police Commissioner Danny Levy said law enforcement in the West Bank applied to everyone regardless of identity or affiliation, and pledged “professional, equal and impartial enforcement” based on evidence and the law. He added that “a distinction must be made between responsibility for preventing incidents in the field and responsibility for investigating and enforcing the law after they occur.”
The suspects were transferred for questioning by the Judea and Samaria District police and were expected to be brought before a court for a hearing on their cases.
On Saturday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cast doubt on the validity of the reports of the attacks, saying they might be part of “a coordinated campaign to smear Israel” and West Bank settlers.
The security agencies said that, in a parallel operation, forces also evacuated illegal outposts and removed people who had trespassed in a Palestinian home.
Meanwhile, settler violence in the area continued overnight. According to Palestinian reports, settlers stole money and about 25 sheep from Taybeh. In a separate incident, settlers sprayed graffiti and attempted to set fire to vehicles in Khirbet Safa, north of Hebron.
The weekend attacks included an assault on a European delegation of diplomats and public figures from Poland, Belgium and France visiting land in the Christian village of Taybeh, in the Ramallah district. A diplomat who was at the scene told Haaretz that settlers struck the window of a car belonging to the Belgian delegation with an object, apparently an iron rod, while people were inside.
A preliminary IDF investigation found that reports of distress and threats by settlers in the area had reached the Benjamin Brigade’s operations room by 1 P.M. Messages obtained by Haaretz showed that activists also sent distress calls to the operations room at 1:30 P.M. Despite these reports, neither IDF troops nor police were present at the scene to prevent or stop the attack.
The military and the Civil Administration received a report of the attack only at around 3 P.M., after the incident had ended. The IDF subsequently decided to establish a special investigative team to examine its handling of the incident.
On Friday, Washington Post photographer Heidi Levine was injured in a settler attack in the village of Abu Falah while photographing Palestinian farmers harvesting olives.
“They jumped on me, and I found myself on the ground as they kicked me for about ten minutes. I tried to hold onto my cameras and my bag. I had a camera bag, and my passport; my phone was hanging on a cord around my neck – they ripped it off, snatched my cameras, tore my bag, and continued to kick me,” she testified.
The attacks, along with a broader rise in settler violence against Palestinians during the olive harvest season, prompted widespread international condemnation. On Sunday, the European Union condemned the attack on the diplomatic delegation and the violence in the West Bank.
“We welcome statements by several Israeli representatives condemning the attacks, but expect accountability,” the EU statement said.
The foreign ministries of France, Belgium and Poland also condemned the attack and pointed to rising violence against Palestinians in the area. “Palestinians face this violence daily,” Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot wrote on X. He added that “olive harvesting, news reporting or carrying out diplomatic duties should not endanger anyone.”
France called on Israel to arrest those responsible and bring them to justice, saying the authorities must take all necessary measures to end the violence and ensure the safety of civilians and diplomatic missions. It also reiterated its opposition to Israeli settlement policy, which it said undermines Palestinian rights, threatens stability in the West Bank and jeopardizes the two-state solution.
Belgium’s Foreign Ministry told Haaretz that international law does not require diplomatic visits to be coordinated with the IDF.
Following the arrests, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee welcomed the development, calling it “a very positive development in finding & punishing those who severely attacked and beat Heidi Levine, an unarmed journalist with” the Washington Post.
In a statement issued before the arrests, the Prime Minister’s Office addressed the incident in an English-language post on X. “Serious allegations require serious evidence,” it said. The office expressed concern about “a coordinated campaign to defame Israel by relying on sensational headlines before the full facts emerge.”
The post also listed claims that it said cast doubt on accounts of the attack, including that the delegation had entered “a sensitive area with a history of confrontations without prior coordination.” It also noted that Bernard Baudoux, described in the post as “the French Communist Party mayor who previously flew the Palestinian flag over his city hall,” had participated in the visit.
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar also wrote on X that he condemned the attack, while reiterating the IDF’s claim that the diplomats’ visit had not been coordinated with the military.
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