Holy Land Church leaders condemn settler attack on Christian village, European diplomats
Church leaders in Jerusalem condemned an attack by Israeli settlers on Palestinians and European diplomats near Taybeh in the West Bank during the olive harvest. The Oct. 17 assault followed a similar attack the previous day in which settlers reportedly set fire to olive trees and injured several people. The church leaders described the attacks as part of a broader pattern of settler violence and called for accountability beyond verbal condemnation. They denounced a religious ruling permitting the harvesting of Palestinian-owned olive trees and welcomed Jewish voices who rejected it.
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Church leaders in Jerusalem and European diplomats condemned an Oct. 17 attack by masked Israeli settlers on Palestinian civilians and a European diplomatic convoy during the West Bank olive harvest. Church leaders said the assault in Taybeh was part of a wider pattern of settler violence and called for accountability and stronger protection for residents and visitors.
The convoy included diplomats from Belgium, Poland and France. Bernard Baudoux, mayor of the French commune of Aulnoye-Aymeries, said he was “violently attacked” and thrown to the ground.
The church statement described the attack in Taybeh, one of the West Bank’s remaining Christian villages, as “not an isolated incident.” It said Palestinian villages had faced escalating settler attacks in recent weeks, particularly as families gathered olives for their livelihoods and to maintain ties to their land.
The Oct. 17 incident followed another attack during the olive harvest on Oct. 16, when settlers allegedly set fire to olive trees and threw rocks, injuring several people, including Washington Post photographer Heidi Levine.
Israeli police were reportedly examining a complaint against Rabbi Dov Lior over an Oct. 16 ruling permitting Jews to harvest olives on Palestinian-owned property, which he framed as demonstrating Jewish ownership of the land. The church leaders called the ruling “unfounded, very worrying and dangerous,” while praising Jewish rabbis and others who rejected it.
The church leaders thanked Israeli President Isaac Herzog for condemning the violence but argued that statements alone would not stop the attacks. They said the continued incidents reflected impunity and called on Israeli authorities to pursue those responsible and enforce the law consistently.
They also urged the international community to intensify efforts to protect people in Taybeh and across the West Bank, including visitors who travel there in solidarity. The statement acknowledged that Israeli police had made arrests after the attack.
Religious authority, violence, and accountability in interfaith relations
Without a specific news report or incident to assess, the Catholic teaching relevant to this topic can be stated clearly: religious authority carries a responsibility to oppose violence committed in religion’s name, including when the perpetrators claim the same faith as the leaders speaking out. Interfaith dialogue is not a substitute for accountability or a demand to blur religious differences. It should support truth, protection of human dignity, justice, and practical cooperation for peace.
The Church distinguishes religious belief from the use of religious language or identity to excuse violence. John Paul II put the point directly:
Any use of religion to support violence is an abuse of religion. Religion is not, and must not become, a pretext for conflict, particularly when religious, cultural and ethnic identity coincide.
The warning matters because religious identity can become entangled with national, ethnic, or political conflict. In such circumstances, religious authority can either help restrain hostility or lend it an appearance of sacred legitimacy. The Church’s teaching is not that religion has never been implicated in violence; rather, religious leaders have a duty to show through their words and actions that faith does not justify hatred or aggression. John Paul II describes that responsibility as helping ensure religion becomes a source of goodness, respect, harmony, and peace.
Pope Francis likewise acknowledges that fundamentalist violence can arise within groups of any religion, including through the recklessness of their leaders. His appeal is not merely for leaders to convene discussions, but to become genuine mediators: people who work for peace without using dialogue to gain advantage for themselves. Pope Leo XIV’s 2026 teaching makes the same underlying judgment: invoking God to legitimize terrorism, violence, or war betrays God’s nature and attacks religion itself.
A central test of religious authority is whether it names wrongdoing plainly when it is committed by members of its own community. A Holy See text on religious responsibility calls leaders to serve the truth and to identify evil as evil “also and above all when it is committed by those who profess to follow our own creed.” This rules out selective condemnation: denouncing violence by other groups while minimizing, excusing, or concealing violence by one’s own.
That responsibility is not exhausted by statements. John Paul II warns that teaching, though indispensable, must be translated into action; people attend especially to the witness of those whose conduct matches their words. In interfaith relations, that implies credible religious leadership should resist incitement, reject prejudicial portrayals of other communities, and foster solidarity with people suffering violence. It also means that public calls for forgiveness or unity must not be used to silence victims or evade the truth: the Holy See text explicitly says that forgiveness requires truth and that peace is found in justice rather than weapons.
The supplied teachings establish moral duties but do not set out a specific legal or institutional accountability procedure for every case. They do not, for example, determine what investigation, sanction, or remedy is appropriate in a particular incident. Those questions require facts about the event and the relevant civil, religious, and institutional authorities. What the Catholic sources do establish is the standard by which leadership should be judged: truthfulness, protection of human dignity, rejection of violence, and concrete work for justice and peace.
Interfaith dialogue is not the same as religious relativism, nor does it require participants to pretend that their beliefs are interchangeable. John Paul II says that dialogue is not an attempt to impose one’s views; it requires people to hold their convictions while listening respectfully and seeking what is good and holy in others’ teachings. Dialogue becomes a form of domination if it is used to coerce or erase another community’s identity, but it can also be a way to reduce misunderstanding and cooperate for peace.
That distinction is important in discussions of violence. Respectful dialogue should not require treating violent acts as merely a matter of differing interpretations or avoiding moral judgment. At the same time, condemning violence does not justify hostility toward an entire religious community. Benedict XVI calls discrimination and violence against religious people unacceptable, and stresses that political and religious leaders have a duty to protect freedom of conscience and religion. Accountability should therefore be directed at responsible actors and failures, not converted into collective blame against people who share their religion.
The Catholic approach connects dialogue with action. The Holy See text calls for education against religious ignorance and fundamentalist slogans, noting that poverty and lack of education can make violent extremism more likely to take root. It also commends shared remembrance of people killed in places of prayer and concrete assistance to those who have suffered violence. These measures do not replace justice; they help communities resist the hatred, distortion, and isolation that can feed further conflict.
The Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue similarly describes encounters among religious leaders as a way to build trust and extend solidarity to communities, including through cooperation for peace, human rights, and relief for victims during war or disasters. The aim is not simply cordial relations among leaders. It is to make those relationships useful to people affected by conflict.
The Catholic framework, then, joins moral clarity with cooperation: religious leaders should condemn violence without equivocation, acknowledge wrongdoing within their own communities, defend the rights of people of every religion, and work with others for justice and reconciliation. Because no specific incident or news account was included, whether any particular leader or institution has met those obligations remains unresolved.