U.S. Officials Condemn West Bank Attacks as Netanyahu Casts Doubt on Them

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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has downplayed accounts of recent extremist attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank amid the annual olive harvest.

American and European officials have condemned a spate of violence in the West Bank, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel sought to cast doubt on the attacks.

Israeli extremist attacks against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank have escalated in recent weeks amid the annual olive harvest. On Friday, masked assailants were filmed beating Heidi Levine, an American photographer for the Washington Post covering the harvest outside of Ramallah.

Marco Rubio, the U.S. secretary of state, said on Saturday that the Trump administration was “very disturbed” by the footage and was seeking more information about the attacks. He said Washington had “asked the Israelis and continue to ask them to crack down on that stuff.”

Mike Huckabee, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, said on Saturday night on social media that the attack on Ms. Levine was “a despicable act of terror,” and called on the authorities to prosecute those responsible to the fullest extent of the law.

Earlier on Saturday, masked men had attacked Palestinians and a European diplomatic convoy in the Christian town of Taybeh, where they had been participating in the olive harvest. Bernard Baudoux, a visiting French mayor, was also attacked, according to the French foreign ministry.

The European Union denounced the violence and, in a statement on Sunday, the French foreign ministry called on Israel to take measures to stop “these acts of terror.”