World
In rarity, charges filed against Israeli filmed attacking CNN crew in West Bank
Police prosecutors said Thursday that they have filed charges against a young man from Jerusalem accused of attacking journalists, including a CNN media crew, while they were driving earlier this month in the West Bank.
The reporters were traveling to Sinjil, a village north of Ramallah, to cover the anniversary of the killing of US-Palestinian citizen Sayfollah Musallet, 20, who was allegedly beaten to death by a group of settlers last summer.
According to a CNN report from the day of the July 11 attack, the journalists had just arrived when four settlers approached their vehicles and tried to block their route. It was the second time this year that a CNN crew was reportedly attacked in the West Bank, following an incident in March.
The network said the four settlers wielded rods and stones, with one trying to burst the tires of CNN’s vehicle with a knife. The settlers smashed the windshield of another vehicle trailing them that was also carrying journalists, tried to block an exit route and chased the media teams toward Sinjil.
Israeli soldiers dispatched to the scene enabled the journalists to pass and apprehended four suspects, police said.
The defendant, a man in his 20s, is accused of slashing the tires of one of the vehicles with a knife, then jumping atop the second car’s hood and hitting its windshield with a pole.
Israeli settlers armed with clubs, rocks and a knife blocked our way and attacked us & another group of journalists today in the occupied West Bank.
At the same location where settlers beat US citizen Saif Musallet to death, exactly one year ago today.
Our full report will air on… pic.twitter.com/EyvG15AsSo— Jeremy Diamond (@JDiamond1) July 11, 2026
Police arrested the defendant and three other suspected assailants at the scene shortly after the attack. The defendant is charged with making threats, unlawful possession of a knife and causing damage to a car, Haaretz reported. According to the daily, police are continuing to probe the other three suspects, who have not yet been indicted.
“The Israel Police and the IDF view with severity any act of violence or damage to property, particularly when it involves members of the media carrying out their work,” police added.
Settler violence has mounted in recent months, with near-daily attacks, but few suspected assailants are arrested and charged, making Thursday’s indictment rare. Critics accuse the government of condoning or even encouraging the attacks.
Shin Bet figures from earlier this year found that three times more Palestinians were victims of terror attacks in the West Bank than Jews.
In March, CNN’s Jeremy Diamond, who was also part of the crew attacked on Saturday, said a soldier put his cameraman in a chokehold as troops tried to prevent them from filming at an illegal West Bank outpost. Soldiers were caught on camera saying the entire West Bank belongs to Jews and that they were avenging the killing of a settler days earlier.
