Netanyahu’s Office Says There Is No “Compelling Evidence” Settlers Attacked the Diplomats. His Own Army Called the Attackers “Israeli Rioters.”
One day after Israel’s ambassador said the prime minister speaks “emphatically” about stopping settler violence, his office asked for proof that the attack happened
By Mike Dean,
By Daily Rumble | October 18, 2026
Israel’s Prime Minister’s Office said Saturday night there was no “compelling evidence” that settlers attacked a convoy of European diplomats near the West Bank village of Taybeh, referring to an “alleged attack,” the Times of Israel reported. The Israeli military had already condemned the same incident as a “severe” act of violence and called the assailants “Israeli rioters.” Footage shows a diplomatic vehicle pelted with stones and a window smashed, according to the Times of Israel, and a French mayor says masked settlers kicked him and beat him with iron bars. As of Sunday afternoon in Israel, police had announced no arrests.
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Step back and look at the sequence. On Friday, settlers beat Washington Post photographer Heidi Levine near Abu Falah, and Benjamin Netanyahu suggested Palestinians or “far-left” activists might have been responsible, according to Al Jazeera. That night, Israel’s ambassador to the United States, Yechiel Leiter, told CNN he had heard the prime minister speak “emphatically about putting a stop to this,” the Times of Israel reported. On Saturday, masked men attacked the diplomats. By Saturday night, the prime minister’s office was asking for evidence.
So the question this story forces is a plain one. What would count as proof, when the army that was supposed to protect the diplomats has already condemned the attack? And what does it tell Israelis, and the settlers, when the first official response to a documented assault is to doubt it?
What the prime minister’s office actually said
The statement was more careful than its headline suggests, and more revealing. “We urge caution before drawing conclusions from today’s reports,” it said. “Any violence against diplomats is unacceptable.” Then came the turn: “The more serious the accusation, the greater the demand for compelling evidence.”
The office said the diplomats “entered a sensitive area with a history of confrontations without prior coordination with the IDF.” It described the delegation as including “Communist French Mayor Bernard Baudoux.” It said the images, which show a broken window and Baudoux on the ground, “alone do not establish the complete sequence of events or individual responsibility.” And it raised the possibility of a “coordinated campaign to smear Israel and the Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria during the annual olive harvest.” Police, it added, were investigating “to establish the facts and identify those responsible.”
Baudoux, the mayor of Aulnoye-Aymeries, says he was in Taybeh with the French consul general and a priest to sign a cooperation agreement with the village. He said settlers shouted insults about France, kicked him and beat him with iron bars, the Times of Israel reported. “I think that if settlers are behaving like this, there is a tolerance on the part of the Israeli government,” he said.
The statements that don’t line up
The Israeli military condemned the “severe” attack and called the attackers “Israeli rioters.” Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar condemned it too, and said the Foreign Ministry was helping law enforcement “identify the attackers and bring them to justice.” Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot said the Belgian consul general, French and Polish diplomats and a French mayor were among those attacked and that a Belgian vehicle was damaged. Poland’s Foreign Ministry said it was “deeply outraged.”
An Israeli activist who says he was on the scene contradicts the prime minister’s office directly. Amit Orpeli of Torat Tzedek said Palestinians were “fleeing for their lives, and then the settlers attacked us,” according to the Times of Israel. Another activist sent the army a video and a location with a message: “At least seven masked settlers armed with clubs. Come quickly, very scary.”
Then there is the coordination argument. Both the prime minister’s office and the army stressed that the visit was not coordinated in advance. But Haaretz reported, as relayed by the Times of Israel, that an army operations room received threat reports and distress calls from as early as 1 p.m. and took no action. The Civil Administration and troops were informed around 3 p.m., after the attack had ended. The delay did not come from missing paperwork. According to Haaretz, it came from calls that went unanswered.
What’s actually happening beneath the surface
Levine was attacked Friday while covering the olive harvest. “They were kicking me for like 10 minutes,” she said, according to Al Jazeera. Her daughter told the Associated Press that Levine had surgery on a nearly detached finger and has a broken rib and multiple broken vertebrae. Netanyahu’s suggestion that Palestinians or “far-left” activists might be to blame came after reports had identified the attackers as settlers, Al Jazeera noted.
Washington is not buying it. US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee called the attack on Levine “a despicable act of terror carried out by masked cowards” and wrote that those responsible “should spend YRS in prison.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters: “We’re very disturbed by those images and what we’re seeing.” He added: “We’ve asked the Israelis and continue to ask them to crack down on that stuff.”
The numbers explain why that request keeps being made. The Israeli monitoring group Yesh Din has documented at least 170 settler attacks on Palestinians since Sept. 27, according to Reuters as cited by Newsweek. About 94 percent of investigations into settler violence since 2005 ended without an indictment, and about 3 percent led to full or partial convictions, according to Yesh Din figures reported by the Associated Press and cited by Newsweek.
Israelis vote on Oct. 27, and Al Jazeera noted that Netanyahu is campaigning. Opposition politician Gadi Eisenkot called the attacks “Jewish terror under the auspices of the government of Israel.” The government answered a documented assault by questioning the documentation. Given the record, that is a political choice.
What to watch
Watch for arrests. As of Sunday, police had announced none in either attack, and their investigations were ongoing, according to the Times of Israel. Watch the army’s special probe into why distress calls from 1 p.m. produced no response until the attack was over. Watch Brussels, where Prevot has vowed to push for EU sanctions on those responsible. Watch Washington, where Rubio said the State Department expected to hear back from the US Embassy in Jerusalem by Sunday about the attack on Levine.
A government serious about stopping settler violence does not need a French mayor on the ground, a photographer in surgery and a secretary of state on the phone before it will say who did it. Israel’s own army said who did it within hours. The prime minister’s office is the only party still asking.
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Sources:
Times of Israel — Amid outrage, Netanyahu claims no ‘compelling evidence’ settlers attacked European diplomats — https://www.timesofisrael.com/amid-outrage-netanyahu-claims-no-compelling-evidence-settlers-attacked-european-diplomats/
Times of Israel — Israeli ambassador says PM has promised ‘emphatically’ to curb settler violence — https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/israeli-ambassador-says-pm-has-promised-emphatically-to-curb-settler-violence/
Times of Israel — Still no arrests over settler attacks on US journalist, European diplomats, Palestinians — https://timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/still-no-arrests-over-settler-attacks-on-us-journalist-european-diplomats-palestinians
Al Jazeera — US ambassador urges Israel to prosecute attackers of American journalist — https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/10/17/us-ambassador-calls-on-israel-to-prosecute-settlers-over-journalist-attack
Newsweek — Trump Officials Demand Israel Crack Down on West Bank Settlers — https://www.newsweek.com/trump-officials-demand-israel-crack-down-on-west-bank-settlers-12585140