Activists accuse Israeli settlers of assaulting them in occupied West Bank

Russian activist Adele Shoko has said that Israeli settlers attacked her and two colleagues in the Palestinian village of Umm al-Khair, in the Masafer Yatta area of the occupied West Bank. Al Jazeera reported her account on 29 October 2026.

Shoko said the armed settlers beat and threatened her and the two colleagues, and stole equipment and personal items. The colleagues were identified as US journalist Jasper Nathaniel and Israeli-Russian activist Andrey X. Israeli settlers are civilians who live in communities built on occupied land, and the West Bank is territory Israel has controlled since 1967.

Shoko said Nathaniel was beaten, pepper-sprayed and arrested, and was then taken away by Israeli forces. She said Andrey X suffered a concussion and lost consciousness more than once before being detained by authorities. According to her, he was taken to a police station by ambulance rather than a hospital, where he remained under arrest and was denied medical care.

Video posted online showed several men, some of them armed, beating Nathaniel and Andrey X. Further footage showed Israeli authorities leading Nathaniel away while he shouted that he had just been beaten up.

The incident is not the only recent case. On October 16, masked settlers attacked Palestinian farmers harvesting olives in Abu Falah, northeast of Ramallah, setting trees on fire and throwing stones with slingshots, according to Al Jazeera. Heidi Levine, a Washington Post photojournalist covering that attack, was beaten, robbed and taken to hospital.

Levine was wearing a protective vest marked "PRESS". She said settlers repeatedly kicked and beat her on the ground before taking her passport, phone and camera equipment. In the same incident, a Palestinian man was shot in the leg by Israeli soldiers who fired live ammunition and tear gas. Washington Post Executive Editor Matt Murray condemned the "unwarranted attack on a journalist doing her job."

On October 17, Marco Rubio said the United States wants Israel to crack down on settler violence in the West Bank. Two days later, Israeli police arrested 10 people over settler attacks on a US journalist and European diplomats, Reuters reported. The suspects were arrested before dawn after the weekend attacks.

Umm al-Khair has been the scene of earlier deadly violence. In July 2025, Palestinian activist Awdah al-Hathaleen, a teacher from Masafer Yatta, was shot dead there by a settler, according to the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem.