Settler Attacks Expose West Bank Occupation Before Vote

Masked Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian olive harvesters near Abu Falah on Friday, October 16, and beat American photojournalist Heidi Levine, who wore clearly marked press gear. Levine went to hospital and underwent surgery for a severe hand injury. The attacks took place in the occupied West Bank as Israel prepared for its October 27 election, with settlement expansion and attacks on Palestinians among the issues shaping the political climate.

Attacks during the olive harvest

Yesh Din, an Israeli settlements monitoring group, said settlers had carried out at least 170 attacks on Palestinians since September 27, around the start of the annual olive harvest. Levine was one of at least two people injured Friday, when settlers attacked Palestinian civilians.

On Saturday, masked Israelis reportedly attacked a delegation visiting olive groves near the Palestinian Christian village of Taiba. Diplomats from Belgium, France and Poland were there. The attack damaged a Belgian consular vehicle, and French Mayor Bernard Baudoux was reportedly assaulted. Police opened an investigation, while the IDF condemned the attack.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Saturday that the United States wanted Israel to do more to deter settler attacks. “We're very disturbed by those images and what we're seeing,” Rubio said. “We've asked the Israelis and continue to ask them to crack down on that stuff.” Rubio said the State Department had asked about the incident involving Levine and that he expected a response from the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem by Sunday.

Israel's government condemned violence in statements while questioning accounts of the Taiba attack. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said, “Any violence against diplomats is unacceptable,” and added, “The more serious the accusation, the greater the demand for compelling evidence.” The office pointed to the police investigation and said video footage didn't establish the complete sequence of events. It also described Baudoux as “a French Communist Party mayor who previously raised the Palestinian flag over his municipal building, prompting French authorities to order its removal.”

President Isaac Herzog called Levine on Saturday. “I was morally tormented during Shabbat when I thought about it, and I express deep sorrow and apologize for what you went through,” he said. Herzog urged law enforcement to investigate and prosecute those responsible. Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar condemned the assault and said advance coordination with the IDF could have helped protect the delegation. The IDF said an alert during the Taiba incident reached a brigade operations room intended for security personnel, not civilians.

Orders, settlements and the election

On October 8, Defense Minister Israel Katz instructed officials to pursue administrative removal orders against activists considered threats to public order during the harvest. The Yesha Council, which represents Israeli settlements, had requested action, citing concerns about provocations and confrontations. The directive targeted left-wing and foreign activists accompanying Palestinian farmers.

A Jerusalem Post editorial said the IDF had prepared for nationalist violence, clashes and terrorist attacks, and reported that it was preparing to reinforce its West Bank presence. The editorial urged officials to determine what forces were available, when warnings arrived and how units responded. It also referred to a reported warning during the previous week of a planned Hamas attack.

Netanyahu's government has expanded settlements in the occupied West Bank, where settlers, described as acting with the blessing of far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, have attacked Palestinians on their land, with authorities occasionally pushing back. The attacks and the government's response unfolded as Netanyahu sought a new mandate in the October 27 election.

The election account described a contest over whether Israel would move further toward hard-right nationalism. Netanyahu returned to power in December 2022 with ultra-nationalist allies, and his government moved to rein in a judiciary examining corruption charges that could lead to jail. The proposed judicial reforms prompted some of the largest protests in Israel's history in the months before the October 7, 2023 attack.

Gideon Rahat, a political scientist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Israel Democracy Institute, said, “I really think that these elections are about the future of the state in a literal sense.” The account also described growing influence for Netanyahu's far-right allies, who sought to reshape Israel into a religious-nationalist Jewish state. Settler attacks on Palestinians remain part of the West Bank reality confronting voters as the election approaches.