Netanyahu’s Office Asks for Proof After Settlers Attack European Diplomats the Army Has Condemned

The army and Israel’s foreign minister condemned the Taybeh attack on European diplomats. Netanyahu’s office asked for proof. Belgium wants more EU sanctions.

Illustration: olive terraces near a West Bank village in harvest season, with a diplomatic-style vehicle, its window cracked, beside spilled sacks of olives. It does not depict the real event.AI-generated illustration (Google Gemini) for Silent Dossier

Karmalla AhmedDirector and Chief EditorOctober 17, 20265 min read

In this article

Context

On Saturday, 17 October, masked men attacked a delegation of European diplomats and officials in the West Bank village of Taybeh. Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar condemned the attack and said the visit had not been coordinated with the army. The army condemned it too, its spokesman said. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu‘s office then urged caution and said that “the more serious the accusation, the greater the demand for compelling evidence”.

Belgium’s foreign minister, Maxime Prévot, said he would keep pushing for European Union sanctions on the settlers responsible and on those who support them. Brussels agreed its first such sanctions in May, covering seven targets, Al Jazeera reported.

Key takeaways

Sa’ar and the army condemned the attack, while the prime minister’s office questioned the evidence and spoke of a smear campaign, according to the statements carried by the Times of Israel. Prévot linked the violence to Israeli settlement policy and asked for more EU sanctions. Al Jazeera reported that the May package named three settlers and four settler organisations and left out trade measures.

What was said in Taybeh

Euronews Arabic described Taybeh as a largely Christian village near Ramallah and reported that the delegation included diplomats from France, Belgium and Poland, among them Belgium’s consul general in Jerusalem, Annick Van Calster. The party had gone after reports that settlers were stealing olive sacks from Palestinian farmers, the outlet said.

Amit Overly, an activist who accompanied the delegation, told Euronews Arabic that seven masked settlers with clubs surrounded two cars. He said the settlers threatened to kill him and a second activist. A member of the delegation was pushed to the ground. The window of a Belgian consulate car was smashed. The outlet reported that Bernard Baudoux, a French mayor in the party, was injured. Prévot said no Belgian staff were hurt, according to Arabic-language reports.

Sa’ar responded first, in a post on X, where he condemned the violence of what he called rioters and said the Foreign Ministry was in touch with the ambassadors of the countries concerned. The Times of Israel reported that he added that the visit was “not coordinated with the IDF in advance”. Euronews Arabic reported that police opened an investigation and forensic investigators worked at the scene.

The army said no soldiers were at the site when the attack happened, the Jerusalem Post reported. It said the report went to a brigade operations room that takes reports only from security personnel. It condemned what it called a severe attack and noted that the visit had not been coordinated.

Then came the prime minister’s office. It posted its own statement hours later, which the Times of Israel quoted. “We urge caution before drawing conclusions from today’s reports,” it said. It called violence against diplomats “unacceptable”, and said the images “do not establish the complete sequence of events or individual responsibility”. It spoke of a “coordinated campaign to smear Israel” and its Jewish residents of the West Bank during the olive harvest. It named Baudoux and described him as a vocal advocate for Palestinians, and said the footage showed masked people approaching a diplomatic vehicle.

Jordan’s foreign ministry called it a terrorist act. Anadolu reported that it held Israel responsible. Gadi Eisenkot, a former army chief of staff who now leads the Yashar party, wrote on X that it was “Jewish terror under the auspices of the government”.

Analysis

Belgium’s reply

Prévot condemned the attack in strong terms and said it had targeted Palestinians, European diplomats and church representatives, according to Belgian and Arabic-language reports. He called on the Israeli authorities to protect Palestinians, diplomats and journalists and to hold the attackers to account. “Violence cannot be separated from Israel’s illegal settlement policy,” he said, in the Arabic rendering carried by Euronews Arabic. Belgium, he said, would keep working for EU sanctions on the settlers responsible and on those who back them.

The reports available on Saturday evening carried no official statement from France or Poland. No arrests had been announced.

Analysis

What are the EU’s sanctions on violent Israeli settlers?

On 11 May 2026, EU foreign ministers reached political agreement on the first sanctions on violent settlers. Al Jazeera reported that Hungary’s new government under Péter Magyar had lifted the veto of its predecessor, Viktor Orbán. The package covered three settlers and four settler organisations, whose names had not been made public, and Hamas figures in the same decision.

Kaja Kallas, the EU’s foreign policy chief, said it was time to move “from deadlock to delivery”. She said that “extremisms and violence carry consequences”. Sa’ar called the sanctions arbitrary and political, per Al Jazeera. The ministers did not agree on trade measures, including restrictions on goods from the settlements. Italy’s Antonio Tajani said the European Commission would make a proposal and the bloc would then see whether it had the support.

Yesh Din, an Israeli rights group, has recorded 487 incidents of violence by settlers and soldiers since 27 September, about 27 a day, Euronews Arabic reported. Of those, 234 were tied to the olive harvest, it said.

Analysis

How the accounts fit together

Sa’ar said the visit was “not coordinated with the IDF in advance”. The army said no troops were present. The prime minister’s office, in the Times of Israel’s account, asked for evidence of who did what.

Heidi Levine, a Washington Post photographer, was injured in a separate attack on Friday and needed hand surgery, Euronews Arabic reported. She told Netanyahu to “take another look at those videos”, the Times of Israel said.

Prévot’s demand rests on the May decision, which named seven targets. Tajani said in May that the Commission would bring forward a proposal on trade measures.

What to watch

The first marker is the police investigation, which Sa’ar said is under way. An arrest or an indictment would supply the evidence the prime minister’s office asked for.

Three things follow. First come statements from France and Poland, whose diplomats were present. Second is any move by Prévot to put sanctions on the agenda of the next EU foreign ministers’ meeting. Third is the Commission’s proposal on settlement goods. Until it reaches the ministers, the EU response remains the seven targets agreed on 11 May.