Trump Endorses Netanyahu After PM Disputes Settler Attacks On U.S. Journalist, EU Diplomats
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The IDF failed to respond to repeated distress calls warning that settlers were threatening a delegation of European diplomats and public figures in the West Bank on Saturday, despite receiving the location of the attack and video footage of the assailants, Haaretz has learned.
Among those attacked in the delegation – which included representatives from Poland, Belgium and France – was Anick Van Calster, Belgium's consul general in Jerusalem, and Bernard Baudoux, mayor of Aulnoye-Aymeries in France, who was wounded. The attackers also smashed a window of a Belgian consular vehicle.
Despite receiving these, security forces were not dispatched to the area. The IDF later said the hotline to which the initial warnings were sent was not intended to receive calls from civilians. Reports of the attack reached troops in the field and the Civil Administration, the IDF body responsible for civilian affairs in the West Bank, around 3 P.M, after it was over.
Netanyahu doubted the validity of reports of the attack, calling it "alleged" and saying it might be part of "a coordinated campaign to smear Israel" and settlers.
In a statement on X, Netanyahu's bureau said footage of the attack did not establish the full sequence of events, and addressed Baudoux's presence, identifying him as "a French Communist Party mayor who previously raised the Palestinian flag over his municipal building, prompting French authorities to order its removal."
The IDF failed to respond to repeated distress calls warning that settlers were threatening a delegation of European diplomats and public figures in the West Bank on Saturday, despite receiving the location of the attack and video footage of the assailants, Haaretz has learned.
Among those attacked in the delegation – which included representatives from Poland, Belgium and France – was Anick Van Calster, Belgium's consul general in Jerusalem, and Bernard Baudoux, mayor of Aulnoye-Aymeries in France, who was wounded. The attackers also smashed a window of a Belgian consular vehicle.
Despite receiving these, security forces were not dispatched to the area. The IDF later said the hotline to which the initial warnings were sent was not intended to receive calls from civilians. Reports of the attack reached troops in the field and the Civil Administration, the IDF body responsible for civilian affairs in the West Bank, around 3 P.M, after it was over.
Netanyahu doubted the validity of reports of the attack, calling it "alleged" and saying it might be part of "a coordinated campaign to smear Israel" and settlers.
In a statement on X, Netanyahu's bureau said footage of the attack did not establish the full sequence of events, and addressed Baudoux's presence, identifying him as "a French Communist Party mayor who previously raised the Palestinian flag over his municipal building, prompting French authorities to order its removal."
