Israeli settlers attack European diplomats, beat French mayor

• Israeli settlers attacked European diplomats and a French mayor in the West Bank during the olive harvest. The mayor said masked settlers hit him with iron bars and he accused the Israeli government of “tolerance”.
• The violence came after an American photojournalist was badly hurt in a separate settler attack. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned of a possible “crisis” and said President Trump did not want “a new spark”.
• France, Belgium and Israel condemned the attack, while Netanyahu blamed a “smear” campaign and backed settlers. The unrest has grown before the Oct 27 election and has raised fears over West Bank stability.

JERUSALEM – Israeli settlers attacked a convoy of European diplomats in the West Bank and beat up a visiting French mayor on Oct 17, witnesses said, while US Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned against a brewing “crisis” in the territory a day after an American photojournalist was injured in a brutal attack.

Violence is surging ahead of the bitterly fought Oct 27 elections, coinciding with the Palestinians’ annual olive harvest, which Israeli settlers have repeatedly disrupted as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seeks to shore up his pro-settlement right-wing base.

On Oct 17, the 78-year-old mayor said masked settlers yelled defamatory comments about France and kicked and hit him with iron bars as he joined Palestinian olive farmers in the West Bank alongside top French and Belgian representatives in Jerusalem and Polish diplomats.

“I think that if settlers are behaving like this, there is a tolerance on the part of the Israeli government,” Bernard Baudoux, mayor of the northern French town of Aulnoye-Aymeries, told AFP after he was attacked.

“The whole world needs to know what’s happening,” he said. “For me, I’ll go back to my country, and everything will be fine. Those who continue to suffer the most are those who are here.”

Baudoux, who was wearing a sash with the French tricolour, was seen collapsed on the side of the car after the attack, but he did not need hospital care.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said in a statement that Israel must “urgently halt criminal violence” and arrest those responsible for attacking Baudoux, while his Belgian counterpart issued a similar call.

The attack came a day after settlers beat up Heidi Levine, an American photographer for The Washington Post, who was in a moderate condition on Oct 17 after suffering broken vertebrae.

“We’re very disturbed by those images and what we’re seeing,” Rubio told reporters on Oct 17, adding that US President Donald Trump “does not want to see friction or anything – a crisis going on in the West Bank”.

Trump “doesn’t want to see a new spark”, Rubio added.

Election season

Israel’s Foreign Ministry condemned the attack on the diplomats, and the Israeli police promised to open an investigation.

But Netanyahu, who is seeking to shore up support from the fiercely pro-settlement far-right in the October election, instead alleged a “smear” campaign against settlers.

Netanyahu said the diplomats should have coordinated their movements with the Israeli military and pointed out that Baudoux was a communist known for supporting the Palestinian cause.

His main rival in the elections, former military chief Gadi Eisenkot, slammed Netanyahu over the violence, saying it was “burning away the little legitimacy the state of Israel still possesses”.

The attacks are “Jewish terrorism, under the auspices of the Israeli government”, Eisenkot said.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who holds a mostly ceremonial role, called Levine in hospital on Oct 17, saying the attack was “outrageous and shocking” and weighed on his conscience.

US ambassador Mike Huckabee said the beating was “a despicable act of terror carried out by masked cowards”, and demanded that Israel prosecute and jail the assailants.

Attacks on cultural symbol

Baudoux said he had travelled to the town of Taybeh, a Christian stronghold, with his local pastor from France to sign a goodwill agreement.

He was attacked while taking part in the harvest as a symbolic gesture with Palestinians, for whom olives are an important cultural symbol.

Rubio also acknowledged the season and added that “there are other instances we’ve heard complaints about”.

Extremist Israelis have issued calls to stop the Palestinians’ annual harvest after months of attacks in which settlers have stolen land and property.

There has also been violence against Israelis, with a Palestinian fatally shooting a settler in September.

Bashar Fawadleh, a priest in Taybeh, said settlers also attacked the harvest and snatched olives before beating the mayor.

“One person was hit in the head and needed stitches. They also beat up an older lady in her 70s after insulting her,” the pastor told AFP.

The West Bank violence has shocked much of the world, with Britain spearheading economic sanctions that led Israel to close the British consulate in Jerusalem.

Israel Gantz, head of an umbrella settler group, blamed recent incidents on “groups of provocateurs and terrorists” but implicitly acknowledged some Israelis’ responsibility.

Settlers also beat up AFP photographer Jaafar Ashtiyeh earlier in October while he was covering the olive harvest tensions, fracturing several of his ribs and stealing his camera.

Netanyahu’s government has ramped up approval of West Bank settlements, which are illegal under international law.

About 500,000 Israelis live in the West Bank, which Israel seized in 1967, alongside three million Palestinians. AFP