The Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned an attack by masked Israeli settlers on a delegation of diplomats in the West Bank, which also included Poles. The ministry expects detailed explanations from the Israeli authorities and the identification of the perpetrators.
The attack took place on Saturday, October 17, in Taybeh, a predominantly Christian Palestinian village near Ramallah. According to Notes from Poland, the delegation included representatives of France, Belgium, Poland and the Catholic Church. They had come to assess the situation after a series of settler attacks on Palestinians harvesting olives. Parts of the incident were filmed.
What the Foreign Ministry said
Ministry spokesman Maciej Wewiór confirmed on Saturday on X that an attack on a convoy carrying diplomatic representatives, including Polish diplomats, had taken place. According to preliminary information, Israeli settlers may be responsible. The Poles were unharmed.
As Notes from Poland reports, Wewiór added that Poland expresses “deep outrage” and that attacks on diplomatic representatives are “absolutely unacceptable”. Warsaw expects urgent and detailed explanations, the identification and prosecution of the perpetrators, and effective measures to prevent similar incidents.
On Sunday, the ministry issued another statement. It condemned the attack by masked settlers during a solidarity visit to a village with a centuries-old Christian presence. It described the attack as further evidence of the daily violence of settlers against Palestinians and called on Israel to take a “decisive response”.
Reactions in Europe and Israel
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said that the mayor of Aulnoye-Aymeries, Bernard Baudoux, had been “brutally attacked” and demanded the arrest of the perpetrators. Belgian minister Maxime Prévot wrote that Palestinians, the Belgian consul general, French and Polish diplomats and representatives of the Church were harmed in the attack, and that a Belgian vehicle was damaged. He announced further efforts to secure EU sanctions against those responsible and their accomplices. The European External Action Service (EEAS) “strongly condemned” the attack and expects the perpetrators to be fully held accountable.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) condemned the “serious act of violence” committed by “Israeli thugs”, but noted that the consulate’s visit had not been coordinated with it. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar also condemned the attack and announced that police had opened an investigation. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for his part, called for caution in drawing conclusions and spoke of a coordinated campaign to defame Israel.
Background: violence during the olive harvest
The day before, around 80 settlers reportedly attacked Palestinians harvesting olives. Heidi Levine, a photojournalist for the “Washington Post”, was injured. US Ambassador Mike Huckabee called it a “despicable act of terror”, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the US had asked Israel to take decisive action.
Relations between Warsaw and Jerusalem are strained. In August, Poland summoned the Israeli ambassador after the discontinuation of an investigation into the shelling of a convoy in Gaza in 2024, in which a Pole was killed. In May, it imposed a five-year entry ban on minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.
What next
For Poles travelling in the region, one thing follows: the situation in the West Bank remains unstable, and settler violence also affects foreigners. At the time of publication, it was not reported whether anyone had been detained or whether Israel had responded to Poland’s demands for explanations.
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