Israeli police arrest 10 after settler attacks on journalist and European diplomats in West Bank

Ten people were detained by Israeli police on Monday over a string of weekend assaults by settlers in the occupied West Bank, among them attacks on an American news photographer and a delegation of European diplomats, according to an Associated Press report carried by PBS NewsHour.

Authorities did not release the names of those detained or explain what part each is alleged to have played. The suspects were brought in for questioning, and the Shin Bet security service, border police and the army all assisted in the inquiry, police said, as reported by PBS NewsHour. Officers said they had spent the days since the attacks collecting evidence and witness accounts, and that they confiscated several vehicles and other items they believe tie the suspects to the alleged crimes.

Police added that the same operation went after people suspected of illegal building and of breaching military orders that closed off an area to civilians, the outlet reported.

Washington Post photographer Heidi Levine was assaulted Friday in the village of Abu Falah by a group of young male settlers, PBS NewsHour reported. Her injuries included broken ribs and vertebrae and a finger that was almost cut off and required surgery, and she was stitched up for apparent stab wounds to her lower body.

From the hospital on Sunday, Levine said she was "shocked and insulted" that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had referred to the assault as "alleged," according to the outlet. U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee called it an act of terror and said the attackers deserve lengthy prison terms. Israel's president and a number of opposition lawmakers also denounced it.

On Saturday, masked settlers set upon a European delegation and others touring Taybeh, a Christian village, PBS NewsHour reported. The group included Belgium's consul general, diplomats from France and Poland, and representatives of the Catholic Church. "Impunity for violent settlers must end," Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot said afterward, according to the outlet.

Israel faced strong criticism abroad over the incidents, which occurred as settler violence climbed during the yearly olive harvest. Rights organizations say perpetrators of attacks on Palestinians are rarely detained or held to account, PBS NewsHour reported.

According to UN News, the UN humanitarian office, OCHA, recorded 160 harvest-related settler attacks in the past two weeks that led to injuries, deaths, property damage or a combination. OCHA also reported that five Palestinians were killed and over 240 hurt by settlers or Israeli forces across the territory in that span.

Independent human rights experts appointed by the UN called on Israel Monday to safeguard Palestinian farmers and guarantee them access to their fields, UN News reported. They cautioned that conditions may deteriorate further after new Israeli orders to uproot olive trees and limit farmers' movements.

Compiled by True News from reporting by PBS NewsHour and UN News. Each outlet's original story is linked below.

Originally published by True News: https://truenews.bagleyenterprises.net/stories/261