Officers detained 10 Israeli citizens following weekend assaults on an American photojournalist and a convoy of European diplomats during the olive harvest.
Israeli police arrested 10 suspects early Monday across several locations in the occupied West Bank after violent weekend attacks targeted a visiting diplomatic delegation and an American photojournalist.
The arrests came after European diplomats were attacked by Israeli settlers on Saturday near the village of Taybeh, where envoys were observing Palestinian farmers during the annual olive harvest.
Police said the detainees are suspected of violence, entering a closed military zone and illegal construction, BBC News reported. Officers also confiscated vehicles and potential evidence during the raids. All 10 detained suspects are Israeli citizens, according to Al Jazeera, citing reports from Israel’s Army Radio.
Assaults during the harvest
The weekend violence began on Friday in the Palestinian village of Abu Falah. Masked settlers assaulted Washington Post photojournalist Heidi Levine while she covered the harvest. Levine, who was wearing a helmet and a protective vest marked with press insignia, was thrown down, kicked repeatedly, and robbed of her cameras and mobile phone.
A local official said the assault injured 12 Palestinians, including four dual citizens of the United States and the Palestinian territories. Levine suffered four broken vertebrae, a damaged rib, lacerations, and an open finger injury that required surgical treatment. Al Jazeera noted she also received stitches for what appeared to be stab wounds on her lower body.
Speaking from a hospital bed in central Israel, Levine credited her protective gear with saving her from worse head injuries. “I don’t guess, but I know that I’m actually really, really lucky,” she told the BBC.
The following day, masked settlers targeted a visiting foreign delegation about four miles south in Taybeh. The convoy included envoys representing Belgium, France, Poland and the Catholic Church. Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot said a consular vehicle suffered damage and a French mayor, Bernard Baudoux, was assaulted as settlers threw stones at the group.
Diplomatic fallout and official responses
The attacks drew strong international criticism. The European Union demanded full accountability for the incident, and the United Kingdom described the escalation against Palestinians as ethnic cleansing while levying sanctions against goods produced in Israeli settlements.
United States Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee welcomed the police operation on Monday. Huckabee wrote on X that the detentions were “a very positive development in finding & punishing those who severely attacked and beat Heidi Levine.” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated that President Donald Trump does not want friction or a crisis to develop across the West Bank.
Israeli officials presented differing accounts of the confrontations. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar and military representatives blamed Israeli rioters for targeting the diplomatic group. Israeli President Isaac Herzog phoned Levine directly, labeling the perpetrators thugs and stating their actions do not reflect Israel’s values.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took a different stance. Netanyahu claimed the facts surrounding the attack on Levine remained unclear and argued the European envoys entered a sensitive confrontation zone without coordinating with the Israeli military. His office termed the incidents alleged attacks that formed part of a coordinated campaign to smear Israel and settlement residents. Levine described Netanyahu’s comments as shocking and insulting, saying the prime minister failed to send a clear directive to halt settler violence.
Rise in harvest violence
The weekend assaults occurred during a sharp spike in confrontations tied to the autumn olive harvest, a key economic season for Palestinian communities. The Israeli human rights organization Yesh Din documented 269 harvest-related incidents over a 20-day span, including 98 physical assaults alongside the theft of crops and the burning of olive groves.
United Nations records show settler violence has reached unprecedented levels. Since the start of the year, at least 96 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces or settlers across the West Bank, with 25 of those deaths occurring during settler attacks. Four Israelis have been killed by Palestinians in the territory over the same period.
Roughly 700,000 Israeli Jews reside across 160 settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem alongside 3.3 million Palestinians. The settlements violate international law. While Israeli Police Commissioner Daniel Levy insisted laws apply equally to every resident in the territory, Yesh Din figures indicate that more than 93 percent of police inquiries into ideologically motivated crimes by Israelis against Palestinians between 2005 and 2025 closed without an indictment.
Netanyahu’s religious governing coalition faces an election on October 27, where public projections show it risks losing its parliamentary majority.
