Settlers Beat a French Mayor With Iron Bars; Netanyahu Blames a 'Smear Campaign'

Iron Bars and a Goodwill Visit

According to CBS News, Israeli police opened an investigation after footage circulating online appeared to show several European diplomats being attacked near the village of Taybeh. Israeli public broadcaster Kan reported the group included representatives from France, Belgium and Poland.

Bernard Baudoux, the mayor of the northern French town of Aulnoye-Aymeries, told Agence France-Presse he was on a goodwill visit when the attackers arrived. He said they kicked him, threw him to the ground and beat him with iron bars. He was not seriously injured, which, given the iron bars, is a matter of luck and not restraint.

"It's the gratuitous nature of the violence that stuns me," he said. "They arrived completely enraged." He also said something that should rattle everyone reading this: he gets to go home to France and be fine. The people who live there do not.

Four Countries and a Damaged Car

Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot said on X that settlers targeted Belgium's consul general, French and Polish diplomats and Catholic representatives. A Belgian vehicle was damaged. The Belgian team is safe.

Prevot tied the attack to Israel's "illegal settlement policy" and called on Israel to protect Palestinians in its role as the "occupying power." Then he said the quiet part plainly: harvesting olives, reporting the news or carrying out diplomatic duties should never put anyone at risk of attack.

Poland's foreign ministry confirmed the incident, said its representatives were unharmed and said settlers may have been responsible. It also said that based on current information, there is no indication Polish diplomats were specifically targeted. Read that again. Nobody was singled out. The mob was just a mob, and these diplomats happened to be standing in the wrong village.

The Military Weighs In, Sort Of

Credit where it's due: the Israeli military condemned a "severe act of violence" in which diplomatic representatives were "attacked by Israeli rioters." Israeli police said they condemn violence of any kind and intend to bring the suspects to justice. Those are real statements from institutions with the power to act on them.

The military also stressed two details. The diplomats' visit had not been coordinated with them, and no soldiers were at the scene. Both facts may be true. Both also read like the opening lines of a defense brief. No soldiers were there. Funny how that keeps happening.

And the people who can't phone ahead to the military, the Palestinian families in these villages, get no such courtesy call and no such condemnation.

The Prime Minister's Office Reaches for the Smear Card

Netanyahu's office said any violence against diplomats is unacceptable. Then it spent the rest of the statement working on the "but." "The more serious the accusation, the greater the demand for compelling evidence," it said, which is a sentence you say when you have already decided the evidence will be insufficient.

The office noted that the diplomats "entered a sensitive area with a history of confrontations" without coordinating with the military. It said the footage shows masked individuals confronting a diplomatic vehicle and that images alone do not establish "the complete sequence of events or individual responsibility." Then came the centerpiece: "These reports come amid concerns about a coordinated campaign to smear Israel and the Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria during the annual olive harvest."

The statement even warned that "we may see further allegations in the coming days." It is pre-denying accusations that have not been made yet. That is not a request for evidence. That is a press strategy wearing a lab coat.

Always Check the Mayor's Flag History

In a statement about a mob assault, the prime minister's office found room to note that Baudoux previously raised the Palestinian flag over his town hall, "prompting French authorities to order its removal."

He was beaten with iron bars, according to his own account, and the official response included a note about his municipal flagpole. Whatever you think of the flag, it has no bearing on whether a 2026 mob can kick a visiting elected official on the ground. It is a character reference offered in place of an answer.

This Was Not a One-Off

Saturday's attack followed a similar incident on Friday in which several people were seriously injured, including a freelance American photojournalist working with The Washington Post. Two days, two attacks, including one on a journalist, and the official line is to wait for the full sequence of events.

UN humanitarian office statistics show settler violence against Palestinians has surged in recent years, particularly since the current hard-right government took office in late 2022. Activists say authorities do little to stop it, especially during this year's olive harvest.

Netanyahu has condemned the violence before and blamed a small group of several hundred wayward youths. Human rights groups say the government is complicit, that the military often intervenes on the settlers' side, and that perpetrators are rarely prosecuted. The condemnation, they argue, is posturing.