Israeli settlers attacked European diplomats visiting Palestinian olive farmers in the West Bank on Saturday, pelting their vehicles with stones and assaulting a French mayor — the latest escalation in a region American taxpayers bankroll with billions annually while our own border stays wide open.
The assault on foreign envoys is unusual. The systematic intimidation of Palestinian farmers is not. What makes it matter here at home is the price tag: every year, billions of U.S. dollars flow to Israel while veterans sleep on streets and the southern border remains overrun. Neither side's ancient land dispute is America's fight, but the establishment keeps writing the checks.
According to both Al Jazeera and BBC, masked settlers confronted a delegation from Belgium, France, Poland, and the Catholic Church near the village of Taybeh. Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot said a French mayor was assaulted and a Belgian consular vehicle had its window smashed. Video showed the French official, Bernard Baudoux, wearing a tricolor sash and slumped beside a vehicle. Baudoux told AFP the violence suggests "there is a tolerance on the part of the Israeli government" toward settler attacks.
The IDF condemned what it called "the severe act of violence" and said no soldiers were present at the time. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar condemned the "Israeli rioters" but added it was "unfortunate that the visit was not coordinated with the IDF in advance." Netanyahu's office went further, suggesting the incident was part of "a coordinated campaign to smear Israel and the Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria."
Al Jazeera reported the diplomat attack was one incident in a broader campaign of settler violence. Settlers injured four women and a child in Ma'in village, shot and injured two Palestinians near Deir Ammar, killed roughly 20 sheep in Kafr Malek, and destroyed olive trees across the Beit Furik plain — all while Israeli forces arrested farmers and fired on civilians, according to Palestinian sources. Al Jazeera's reporter described the violence as "pogroms" and noted settlers have become "increasingly emboldened," publicly advertising attacks on social media, with 300 documented attacks since the start of the harvest season. BBC framed the story primarily around the diplomat attack and official condemnations, while Al Jazeera placed it in the wider context of violence against Palestinian civilians across the territory.
Both outlets confirmed the attack came a day after settlers injured Washington Post photographer Heidi Levine and several Palestinians in a separate assault near Ramallah.
Belgium's Prevot pledged to push for EU sanctions against those responsible and those who support them. Israel's government promises investigations. The pattern says otherwise.
The diplomats got their headlines. The farmers get this every harvest. The only question that matters for Americans: how long does Washington keep paying for it?
