Settlers attack European diplomats

‘VERY DISTURBED’: While the US, the Israeli foreign ministry and Netanyahu’s rival in the upcoming elections condemned the attacks, Netanyahu called it a ‘smear’ campaign

Israeli settlers on Saturday attacked a convoy of European diplomats in the West Bank and beat up a visiting French mayor, 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 bitterly fought Oct. 27 elections, coinciding with Palestinians’ annual olive harvest, which has been repeatedly disrupted by Israeli settlers as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seeks to shore up his pro-settlement base.

The 78-year-old mayor on Saturday 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.

Former Israeli ambassadors and employees of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs protest against settler violence outside the ministry in Jerusalem yesterday.

Photo: AFP

“I think that if settlers are behaving like this, there is a tolerance on the part of the Israeli government,” Aulnoye-Aymeries Mayor Bernard Baudoux said 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 tricolor, was seen collapsed on the side of the car after the attack, but he did not need hospital care.

French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs 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 just one day after settlers beat up Heidi Levine, an American photographer for the Washington Post, who was in a moderate condition on Saturday after sustaining broken vertebrae.

“We’re very disturbed by those images and what we’re seeing,” Rubio told reporters Saturday, 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.

The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the attack on the diplomats and Israeli police promised to open an investigation.

However, Netanyahu instead alleged a “smear” campaign against settlers.

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

His main rival in the elections, former military commander 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 Saturday, saying the attack was “outrageous and shocking” and weighed on his conscience.

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