Follow-up: Israeli Police Arrest 10 Suspects Over Attacks on US Journalist and European Diplomats
Israeli police said on October 19 that 10 suspects had been arrested in a pre-dawn operation as part of an investigation into violent incidents in the West Bank over the weekend. The military and the Shin Bet domestic security service took part in the operation. Police said the suspects were arrested on suspicion of involvement in acts of violence, violating a closed military zone order and illegal construction; they were not identified and were taken into custody for questioning. Israel's Army Radio reported that they were Israeli citizens.
According to Reuters, on Friday, October 16, dozens of masked settlers descended on a Palestinian olive harvest, where Washington Post photojournalist Heidi Levine, a US citizen covering the harvest, was assaulted; she was taken to hospital and underwent surgery on a finger. On Saturday, French, Belgian and Polish diplomats as well as a French mayor were attacked by masked settlers in another part of the West Bank, and a Belgian diplomatic vehicle was damaged.
The United States had urged a crackdown on settler violence and the arrest of the perpetrators of the attack on the photojournalist, and France, Belgium and Poland also called on Israel to take action. US Ambassador Mike Huckabee called the arrests "a very positive development," according to AP. Israeli police commissioner Daniel Levy said in the statement announcing the arrests that the law applied to everyone, regardless of identity or affiliation. President Isaac Herzog has apologised over the attack on Levine, saying the violent rioters did not represent the values of Israel. The Israeli human rights group Yesh Din said there have been at least 170 settler attacks since September 27. GSM previously reported that US and European officials visited Taybeh after the attacks and that France pressed Israel to arrest the attackers. (GSM, based on Reuters and AP reporting)
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 约旦河西岸泰贝（Taybeh）镇景，本轮袭击与外交官到访均发生于该镇一带，Wikimedia Commons，CC BY 3.0 / Taybeh in the West Bank, near where the attacks and the diplomats' visit took place — Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0
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- 2026-10-19Follow-up: Israeli Police Arrest 10 Suspects Over Attacks on US Journalist and European DiplomatsThis story
