Israel police arrest 10 over West Bank settler attacks on Westerners

Israeli police said on Monday they had arrested 10 people in the West Bank in a pre-dawn operation over weekend settler attacks on an American photojournalist and European diplomats.

“Following the severe incidents of violence over the past weekend, including the assault of a media worker and the suspected attacks on foreign civilians, an arrest operation was conducted before dawn,” said Maj Gen Moshe Finchi, the Israeli police’s West Bank commander, the Times reported.

On Friday, masked settlers attacked Washington Post photojournalist Heidi Levine, a US citizen, as she covered a Palestinian olive harvest; she was hospitalised. On Saturday, diplomats from France, Belgium and Poland and the 78-year-old French mayor Bernard Baudoux were attacked in the Christian village of Taybeh near Ramallah. A Belgian consulate car’s window was smashed with what appeared to be an iron rod, Haaretz reported.

Several vehicles were seized and the Shin Bet, the IDF and Border Police took part in the raids, Reuters reported. Police commissioner Daniel Levy said the law applied to everyone “regardless of identity or affiliation”. Army Radio said the suspects were Israeli citizens.

US secretary of state Marco Rubio said he was “disturbed” by images of the Levine attack and urged Israel to crack down. The arrests came after prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu had cast doubt on the incidents, citing a lack of “compelling evidence” and suggesting a smear campaign.