French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said Saturday that Israeli authorities must "urgently" arrest those responsible for the attack by Israeli settlers on a convoy of European diplomats visiting the occupied West Bank and "bring them to justice."
Barrot described the attack, in which a French mayor was brutally beaten, as "horrific," asserting in a post on the X platform that Israeli authorities must "urgently put an end to this criminal violence and guarantee the safety of civilians, in accordance with their obligations under international law."
Barrot noted that "Bernard Baudot, 78, the mayor of Aulnoy-Émyrne in northern France, was violently attacked by extremist settlers in the West Bank," adding, "We are in contact with him."
Eyewitnesses said that vehicles belonging to the French, Belgian, and Polish diplomatic missions were transporting diplomats to the predominantly Christian town of Taybeh in the occupied West Bank when settlers attacked them to prevent Palestinians from harvesting olives.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar condemned the attack by "Israeli rioters" and criticized the European consulates involved for failing to coordinate the visit with the Israeli military.
However, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office later denounced what it called a "smear campaign" targeting Israel and its settlers in the occupied West Bank.
Netanyahu, whose government supports settlement activity in the occupied West Bank, is running in the parliamentary elections scheduled for October 27.
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