NBC News team, Palestinian woman beaten by masked Israeli settlers in West Bank

A U.S. television crew from NBC News and a Palestinian woman they were interviewing were beaten on Saturday by a group of masked Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank. The attack highlights a rise in such violence in the territory. The incident occurred in the Palestinian village of Jalud, near Nablus. Four NBC News journalists were interviewing Aida Ahmed Abdullah and her family. Abdullah had told the crew that settlers had forced her and her relatives out of their home. Video recorded by the NBC team shows a grey car with Israeli plates approaching aggressively. A man in a blue tracksuit, holding a stick, leans out of a rear window. When the car stops, four masked men get out. They beat Abdullah and the reporters with sticks and damage the front windshield of the NBC vehicle. The attackers also threw stones before driving away. Three of the journalists were treated for injuries by the Red Crescent. Abdullah was hospitalised but is said to be out of danger. The attack was one of several violent incidents in the area on Saturday. In the nearby village of Qusra, dozens of masked settlers sprayed Palestinian workers with pepper spray and threw stones at a building. The Israeli military said it intervened to push back the attackers and end clashes with residents, which left several people wounded. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government issued a statement condemning the “criminal acts of violence” in Qusra and Jalud, blaming “a handful of rioters who break the law.” But the government and the Israeli military have been accused of ignoring settler attacks on Palestinians and foreigners. Several Israeli opposition leaders criticised Netanyahu for failing to act. Gadi Eisenkot, a former defence minister and leading political rival, called the events “a shame in terms of security, leadership, policy and values.” He said the attackers do not represent the “vast majority” of Israelis. Yair Golan, another former minister and head of the centre-left Democrats party, said “Jewish terrorism in the West Bank endangers Israel’s security.” He added that the military is repeatedly forced to divert forces away from protecting Israeli citizens to deal with settler violence, and accused Netanyahu of allowing the “anarchy” to continue.