Four settlers were arrested after an attack on journalists, including a CNN team, in the occupied West Bank on Saturday, according to Israeli Police.
The journalists were near the village of Sinjil, north of Ramallah, to cover the one-year anniversary of the killing of Saif Musallet, a Palestinian-American who was beaten to death by Jewish settlers.
Attack on Journalists
Within minutes of arriving at the location where Musallet was killed, Israeli settlers descended on the area. As the CNN team and other journalists tried to leave, a group of four settlers blocked the road with their car and tried to keep the vehicles from moving forward.
The settlers were wielding wooden and metal rods and stones. One settler brandished a knife and tried to puncture the tires of CNN’s vehicle. The settlers then began to jump on the vehicle behind CNN’s — carrying another group of journalists — and smashed the windshield of that vehicle.
When police officers and Israeli soldiers arrived at the scene, police say they arrested four suspects before locating their vehicle nearby. They seized clubs and a knife from inside the vehicle, police said.
Response from Authorities
“The Israel Police and the (Israel Defense Forces) view any manifestation of violence or causing damage to property very seriously, especially when it concerns media personnel performing their work,” police said in a statement.
US Rep. Ro Khanna was detained by settlers near the village of Turmus Ayya in the West Bank just days before the attack on journalists. Khanna visited the village to show solidarity with American citizens who have told CNN they feel forgotten by their government.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the perpetrators of settler violence as a group of 150 “juvenile delinquents.” He said the police and military “take actions,” but the courts in Israel “are very lenient” against those convicted of settler violence.
Original reporting: KTVZ (Central Oregon) — read the source article.
