The Foreign Press Association in Israel has expressed its rejection of the attack registered on Saturday in Yalud, in the West Bank, when a group of Israeli settlers assaulted four members of a team from the American network NBC News and a Palestinian woman they were interviewing. The five people involved had to be treated later by medical personnel.
"Israeli settlers have attacked journalists again in occupied West Bank while they were doing their job. This is not an isolated incident, but rather there is a pattern of violence against the press and Palestinian civilians that repeats," the association denounced in a statement.
In its note, the organization expresses its "deep alarm" over these "attacks" and demands that the Israeli authorities take action. "We ask the Israeli authorities, particularly the Central Command of the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) and the Police to investigate these attacks," the text demands, in which it also requests that "those responsible be held accountable" and that "concrete measures be adopted immediately to ensure the safety of journalists reporting in the West Bank."
The incident occurred when the NBC team was conducting an interview with a 51-year-old Palestinian woman. "They hit us and jumped at the car," reported journalist Matt Bradley, who suffered two impacts on an arm. The interviewee, Palestinian Aida Ahmed Abdulá, was left lying on the ground after the assault and had to be evacuated and treated by teams from the Palestinian Red Crescent.