Netanyahu says 'smear' campaign targeting settlers as attack on French mayor draws condemnation

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday alleged a “smear” campaign against settlers, as the violent attack by Israeli settlers on a French mayor in the occupied West Bank drew international condemnation. “These reports come amid concerns about a coordinated campaign to smear Israel and the Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria during the annual olive harvest, relying on sensational headlines before the full facts emerge,” his office said in a statement, using the Israeli term for the occupied West Bank. Netanyahu said the European diplomats should have coordinated their movements with the Israeli military, and pointed out that Bernard Baudoux, the 78-year-old mayor who was beaten by the Israeli settlers, is a communist known for supporting the Palestinian cause. The Israeli prime minister's main rival in the upcoming election, former army chief Gadi Eisenkot, accused the government of sponsoring “Jewish terrorism” and said the violence was “burning away the little legitimacy the State of Israel still possesses”. Later on Saturday, US Ambassador Mike Huckabee demanded that Israel prosecute and jail the assailants in the settler attack on Thursday against Washington Post journalist Heidi Levine, who was also brutally beaten by a group of settlers while she was covering the Israeli harassment of Palestinians harvesting olives. Heidi Levine, photojournalist for @wapo suffered serious injuries from vicious & cowardly attack. Heidi is US Citizen, clear ID as journalist. Details of who under investigation, but those who attacked unarmed reporter should spend YRS in prison. We have called for a full investigation, arrest, and prosecution to the fullest extent of the law to whoever participated in this. Attacking a female photographer is despicable act of terror carried out by masked cowards. Dishonorable act of senseless violence. — Ambassador Mike Huckabee (@GovMikeHuckabee) October 17, 2026