Israeli settlers attack European diplomats, beat up French mayor in West Bank

Israeli settlers attacked a convoy of European diplomats and the French mayor in the West Bank on Saturday, escalating violence during the Palestinian olive harvest, according to witnesses and diplomats. The 78-year-old mayor, Bernard Baudoux, was assaulted by masked settlers who allegedly shouted defamatory comments about France and hit him with iron bars as he joined Palestinian olive farmers.

Baudoux, who was wearing a French flag sash, said he was left collapsed in his car but did not require hospital care. The attack occurred just one day after settlers beat an American photographer for The Washington Post, who sustained broken vertebrae. Israel's foreign ministry condemned the diplomat attack, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, ahead of an election, claimed the diplomats should have coordinated with the Israeli military and dismissed Baudoux as a communist who supports the Palestinian cause.

The attacks are seen as a form of "Jewish terrorism" by opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot, who called for an end to the impunity shown to violent settlers.