Israeli settlers suspected of attacking journalist and diplomats released: Press review
Suspected journalist attackers released
Nine of the 10 Israeli settlers arrested on suspicion of attacking a Washington Post photojournalist and European diplomats over the weekend have been released from custody, Haaretz reported on Wednesday.
A Jerusalem District Court released five suspects on Wednesday, while police released another. Three others had been released on the day of their arrest on Monday, according to the report.
The court found that police had presented evidence linking the suspects to the attacks. However, the judge said the incident took place “in the midst of a much larger event of massive stone-throwing” by Palestinians.
Four of the suspects, all settlers from the occupied West Bank, were released by the court despite police requests to extend their detention.
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The releases came just two days after the 10 settlers were arrested in a joint operation involving police, the military and the Shin Bet domestic intelligence agency.
Police suspect the settlers were involved in an attack on veteran photojournalist Heidi Levine in the village of Abu Falah on Friday, which left her hospitalised, as well as an assault on a European delegation visiting the village of Taybeh on Saturday.
Both incidents sparked international condemnation and took place during the West Bank’s olive harvest, when Palestinian farmers and harvesters have faced repeated attacks by Israeli settlers and soldiers.
The far-right legal aid group Honenu, which represents the suspects, welcomed Wednesday’s court decision.
“These are staged and baseless arrests designed to appease media pressure and foreign interests,” the group said.
The only suspect still in custody is Nadav Cohen Tzemach, an Israeli reservist accused of running over a Palestinian who was praying by the roadside near Ramallah last year. The court extended his detention until Monday.
Israeli soldier abusing a cat
A video circulating online appears to show an Israeli soldier throwing a cat over the fence of a military base in Israel, prompting calls from fellow soldiers for his dismissal.
Israeli journalist Daniel Amram published the footage on X on Wednesday. According to Amram, other soldiers at the base demanded that the soldier be removed from his position immediately.
Despite the footage and the calls for his dismissal, military commanders at the base did not remove the soldier, Amram reported.
An army spokesperson told Amram that the Israeli military “takes acts of animal abuse seriously, as they contradict IDF [Israeli army] orders and the conduct expected of IDF [Israeli army] soldiers”.
The spokesperson added that an investigation had been opened into the incident.
The footage comes amid a series of reports and videos documenting alleged animal cruelty by Israeli soldiers and settlers in the occupied Gaza Strip and the West Bank over the past three years.
Last December, Israeli soldiers reportedly killed a Palestinian family’s pet cat while vandalising their home in Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron.
In February 2025, an Israeli army officer reportedly threw a cat at another soldier in an attempt to assault him. In September 2025, Israeli soldiers filmed themselves blowing up a donkey in Gaza, reportedly for amusement.
Authorities seek deportation of Moroccan mother
Israel’s Population and Immigration Authority is seeking to deport a Moroccan woman married to an Israeli citizen, despite the couple having a daughter together, Israeli news outlet Ynet reported on Wednesday.
According to the report, a Beersheba district court suspended the deportation, giving the authority one month to explain why the woman should be expelled.
The couple met in Morocco in 2023 and married there in 2024. They entered Israel in January 2025, when Israeli authorities granted the Moroccan woman permission to stay in the country.
Several months after the birth, Salma Jud was interviewed twice by the Population and Immigration Authority, which questioned the authenticity of her relationship with her Israeli partner.
The couple’s lawyers appealed against the deportation, arguing that the authority had failed to provide a Moroccan Arabic interpreter for one of the interviews.
They also accused the agency of disregarding the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Israel is a signatory.
“In the State of Israel, they distinguish between a Jew and an Arab,” Jud’s partner, Yossef Inbar, told Ynet.
“If I were a Jew, I would get everything easily, and they wouldn’t punish me,” he said.
“Sometimes I regret that I did military service,” Inbar added.
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