The French mayor who was attacked on Saturday by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank said the incident showed that Israel tolerates settler violence.
“I think that if settlers are behaving like this, there is a tolerance on the part of the Israeli government,” said Bernard Baudoux, mayor of the northern French town of Aulnoye-Aymeries, speaking to AFP after the attack during a goodwill visit to the Palestinian village of Taybeh.
“The whole world needs to know what’s happening there. For me, I’ll go back to my country and everything will be fine. Those who continue to suffer the most are those who are here,” he said.
Baudoux said he was visiting alongside the French consul general in Jerusalem and a priest from his home parish to sign a cooperation agreement between his town and Taybeh, a largely Christian village.
He said two or three cars suddenly arrived and Israeli settlers got out, shouting incomprehensible insults about France.
Baudoux, who was wearing a sash in the colours of the French flag, said the settlers threw him to the ground, kicked him and beat him with iron bars.
“It’s absolutely incredible that settlers can behave like this,” Baudoux added, predicting the attack would go unpunished.
“It’s the gratuitous nature of the violence that stuns me … They arrived completely enraged.”
He said his parish priest helped him up and that they rushed off in car. He ultimately did not suffer serious injuries and was able to continue his visit to the town.