JERUSALEM — The European Union has condemned an attack by masked Israeli settlers on a delegation of European diplomats in the occupied West Bank, saying it expects “full accountability as well as effective measures” to stop violence against Palestinians and journalists, BBC News reported.
The diplomats — from Belgium, France, Poland and the Catholic Church — had gone on Saturday to Taybeh, a largely Christian village near Ramallah, to assess near-daily settler attacks on Palestinians harvesting olives. Belgium said its consul general was among those targeted and that a consulate car had a window smashed.
Bernard Baudoux, the 78-year-old mayor of Aulnoye-Aymeries in northern France, said settlers kicked him and beat him with iron bars, throwing him to the ground. “It’s the gratuitous nature of the violence that stuns me,” he told AFP. “They arrived completely enraged.” Baudoux said he suffered minor injuries, DW reported.
Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot condemned the attack “in the strongest terms” and said Belgium will keep pressing for EU sanctions on those responsible. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot urged Israel to “urgently halt this criminal violence,” and Poland called for “a firm response.”
The Israeli military condemned “the severe act of violence” and said no soldiers were present. Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar condemned the “Israeli rioters” but said the visit had not been coordinated with the army. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office urged caution, saying the reports came “amid concerns about a coordinated campaign to smear Israel,” and Israeli police opened an investigation.
The attack came a day after settlers injured Palestinians and Washington Post photographer Heidi Levine in another West Bank village. U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee called that assault “a despicable act of terror carried out by masked cowards,” and Secretary of State Marco Rubio said it was “not a good look,” the BBC reported.
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