Ten arrested by Israeli police after further West Bank settler attacks
A Washington Post photojournalist was hospitalised, while European diplomats were also targeted
Israeli police have announced the arrest of 10 people suspected to have involvement with West Bank attacks on a Washington Post photojournalist, as well as visiting European diplomats.
In an incident on Friday, settlers near the Palestinian village of Abu Falah reportedly attacked Heidi Levine, a Jewish journalist for the prominent US paper, leaving her with four broken vertebrae, a broken rib and multiple lacerations across her body.
The following day, diplomats from France, Belgium and Poland were among those targeted by masked settlers near the village of Taybeh.
In a statement on Monday from Major General Moshe Finchi, the Israeli police’s West Bank commander described how “an arrest operation was conducted before dawn” following what he referred to as “the severe incidents of violence over the past weekend, including the assault of a media worker and the suspected attacks on foreign civilians.”
Israel’s Foreign Minister, Gideon Sa’ar, had said that he “strongly condemn[ed] the severe acts of violence by Israeli rioters in the area of Taybeh. A police investigation has been opened, and forensic investigators from the Judea and Samaria District are already at the scene collecting evidence.”
However, Sa’ar went on to say that “without detracting from the severity of the incident, it is unfortunate that the visit was not coordinated with the IDF in advance. Such coordination could have helped safeguard the visitors’ security.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had previously attempted to suggest that the facts behind the Assault on Levine “were unclear and required investigation”, as well as citing “concerns about a coordinated campaign to smear Israel and the Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria during the annual olive harvest, relying on sensational headlines before the full facts emerge.”
Speaking to the BBC, Levine said that the attack on her “could have been a lot worse”.
“We [journalists] don’t always want to wear flak jackets and helmets – it’s heavy, it can be a pain when other people aren’t wearing them, you feel kind of silly – but we all did and I’m grateful for that.”
“I think I would have suffered more serious injuries for sure, especially [to] my head. I tried to keep my face to the ground as much as I possibly could so that protected it… I don’t guess, but I know that I’m actually really, really lucky.”
By contrast, opposition politician Yair Lapid said that such attacks were “not a failure of the government – they are the government’s policy. Ben Gvir is one of them and encourages them, and Netanyahu knows and stays silent. We will put an end to this. This is a disgrace to the State of Israel, a disgrace to the Jewish people, and a disaster on the international stage.”
Another leading opposition politician, Naftali Bennett, described how “the inaction and wilful blindness of the Ben Gvir, Smotrich, and Netanyahu government regarding… terrorism in Judea and Samaria are bringing international isolation upon us and endangering the future of Jewish settlement in Judea and Samaria.
“With determination and seriousness, it would have been possible long ago to put an end to this despicable terrorism that does not represent half a million settlers. But Ben Gvir and Smotrich choose to turn a blind eye. This is an un-Jewish, immoral act. In the new government, we will take a hard line against those criminals and restore governance to Judea and Samaria and the rest of the country’s regions.”
Israel is due to hold elections next week, on 27 October.