'Backing Settler Terrorists Is Its Policy': IDF Ignored Distress Calls Before Attack on European Diplomats

The Israeli military reportedly ignored repeated distress calls before masked settlers attacked a group of European diplomats with metal bars during a visit to the illegally occupied West Bank this past weekend, sparking international outrage.

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that "despite the warnings, security forces were not sent to the area to prevent the attack or intervene as it unfolded." The outlet noted that "an activist who was in the area following reports of attacks on Palestinian olive pickers sent a report of the settlers' attack to a phone in the brigade's operations room used to receive messages from settlement security coordinators. The soldiers in the operations room did not recognize the sender's number, so they ignored the message and did not relay it to forces in the field."

In the Saturday attack, settlers targeted diplomats from France, Belgium, and Poland, as well as Catholic representatives. Israeli authorities said Monday that they had arrested 10 suspects as part of an investigation into the incident, but critics expressed doubt that the Israeli government would hold the perpetrators to account given the general pattern of impunity for violent settlers.

"It was clear to me this had to come for Israel to save face," Mairav Zonszein, a senior analyst on Israel at the International Crisis Group, wrote in response to the arrests. "They probably will be released shortly."

The attack on diplomats came a day after Israeli settlers in the West Bank brutally attacked 63-year-old Heidi Levine, a photojournalist with The Washington Post and a US citizen. The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a statement casting doubt on Levine's account and news reports, and said the incident was under investigation.

Netanyahu's office took a similar line following the Saturday attack on European diplomats, saying in a statement, "The more serious the accusation, the greater the demand for compelling evidence."

France's foreign affairs ministry denounced the attacks on diplomats as "acts of terror" and called on Israeli authorities to "arrest the perpetrators of this extremely serious assault and bring them to justice." Bernard Baudoux, a French mayor who was attacked, said he was "struck with metal bars and kicked before being thrown to the ground."

"We were finally able to get back to our vehicles," Baudoux added.

Breaking the Silence, an Israeli anti-occupation group, said in a statement on Sunday that "European diplomats got a glimpse of everyday life for Palestinians in the West Bank."

The group added that the IDF "will always have a bureaucratic excuse" for not acting to prevent such attacks, "but the real reason is that backing settler terrorists is its policy."

"This horrifying routine serves a purpose," the group said. "Through daily terror and economic strangulation, it aims to drive Palestinians off their land. The ultimate goals: ethnic cleansing and annexation."

The attacks also drew condemnation from lawmakers in the US, where Republicans and Democratic Sen. John Fetterman recently blocked legislation aimed at shining light on Israeli abuses in the West Bank.

"I condemn the brutal settler attacks on American photojournalist Heidi Levine, European diplomats, and Palestinian olive harvesters in the West Bank," US Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY), ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said in a statement on Sunday. "Prime Minister Netanyahu must act now to stop settler violence, protect civilians, and ensure those responsible are brought to justice. The impunity must end."