Israeli Settlers Attack Palestinians and European Officials in West Bank

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Masked Israeli settlers carried out an attack in a Palestinian town where residents and European diplomats were participating in the olive harvest on Saturday, a day after a similar assault injured several Palestinians and a U.S. journalist in the occupied West Bank. The episode took place in Taybeh, a Christian town north of Jerusalem, when Palestinians were gathering olives alongside French, Polish and Belgian diplomats who were in attendance to show solidarity, Palestinian residents, local officials and witnesses said.

The extremists beat a Palestinian teenager, pushed an older woman and smashed the window of a Belgian diplomatic vehicle, said Suleiman Khourieh, the mayor of Taybeh. They also scuffled with the visiting mayor of a French town that had recently become a “sister city” of Taybeh, he said. “This violence shows nobody is protected — not Palestinians, not journalists and not diplomats,” Mr. Khourieh said. Jean-Noël Barrot, the French foreign minister, said in a statement that Bernard Baudoux, the mayor of Aulnoye-Aymeries in the country’s north, was “violently assaulted by extremist settlers in the West Bank.”

He called on Israel to “put an end to this criminal violence.” On Friday, Israeli settlers beat a group of Palestinians and Heidi Levine , a longtime photographer for the Washington Post, with bats and sticks. Ms. Levine, 63, was in moderate condition after undergoing surgery on Saturday, according to Beilinson Hospital in central Israel. She suffered a broken rib and lacerations on her legs, rear end and hip, as well as a serious cut on her left hand, according to her family.

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What we found (1)

The New York Times names Israeli settlers as the attackers in its headline and opening, places Taybeh in the occupied West Bank, and states plainly the injuries done to Palestinians, diplomats and a journalist. One word softens the account. The article says the settlers "scuffled" with the French mayor, though the French foreign minister, quoted two sentences later, and other outlets report that he was violently assaulted and thrown to the ground.

Sanitises violence or disorder
Minor
“scuffled with the visiting mayor”
Why this matters
The word "scuffled" turns an attack on the French mayor into a two-sided tussle.
The impression it gives
The mayor and the settlers got into a minor mutual struggle.
The context
The French foreign minister, quoted two sentences later, says the mayor was "violently assaulted". Other reports say the mayor himself described being "violently attacked" and "thrown to the ground" by masked settlers. The settlers attacked him. It was not a mutual scuffle.
How we know
- Elsewhere in the article“violently assaulted by extremist settlers in the West Bank”
- Sky News reported“he was "thrown to the ground" near the village”Israeli settlers attack European diplomats and French mayor in West Bank, Belgium says (opens in a new tab)
- The Independent reported“when he was "violently attacked" by masked settlers”Palestinians and European diplomats attacked by Israeli settlers in West Bank (opens in a new tab)
Show it in the article

What it gets right

“Masked Israeli settlers carried out an attack in a Palestinian town”
The opening sentence names who attacked, and the headline names the attackers too.
“in the occupied West Bank”
The article gives the territory its correct legal status in its own voice.
“Israeli settlers beat a group of Palestinians and Heidi Levine”
The article names the actor and the act in Friday's attack, with no passive softening.

Israeli Settlers Attack Palestinians and European Officials in West Bank

Sanitises violence or disorder

What it gets right

How other outlets reported it

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