US journalist captures Israeli settlers’ ‘brutal ambush’ on Palestinian farmers in viral video, UN condemns incident
Brooklyn-based writer and reporter Jasper Nathaniel was going through the Turmus Ayya olive fields in the West Bank when he captured the spine-chilling footage showing masked Israeli settlers beating Palestinian settlers senseless, armed with crude melee weapons.
A brutal attack by Israeli settlers on Palestinian olive farmers was captured on video by an American journalist, with the video going viral on social media.
Brooklyn-based writer and reporter Jasper Nathaniel was going through the Turmus Ayya olive fields in the West Bank when he captured the spine-chilling footage showing masked Israeli settlers beating Palestinian settlers senseless, armed with crude melee weapons.
In the video, Nathaniel is heard screaming at the Israeli settlers to stop attacking the Palestinian farmers, but his calls fall on deaf ears as a masked Israeli settler clubs an elderly woman and other farmers.
The American is also seen offering injured Palestinian farmers a ride on the vehicle he was using, before the video cuts off.
Prior to uploading the now-viral clip, Nathaniel posted, "Brutal settler attack in Turmus’ayya olive fields. Many injuries, including a woman knocked unconscious with a club and beaten repeatedly (2nd photo)."
"The IDF lured us into an ambush, I have it all on video. Will upload as soon as I have good service. (sic)," he wrote on microblogging platform X.
In follow-up videos, Nathaniel shared the plight of the Palestinian farmers, adding that the elderly woman who was clubbed in the video by an Israeli settler was in a critical condition.
The American journalist also shared a clip purportedly showing him running away from a mob of Israeli settlers, "moments after the IDF sped away".
"October 19, 2025. On the first day of the olive harvest in Turmus'ayyer, the Israeli Defense Force leads a group of farmers directly into a brutal ambush by armed settlers. These people need to be in prison by tomorrow, and the people of this village, and all across Palestine, need to be protected. Enough is enough (sic)," the American wrote later.
‘Wonder where decent Israelis are’
As Nathaniel's clip went viral, Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Palestine, shared the video, highlighting how such attacks have gone on for years without any action from the Israeli side.
"For 2 years, the world has seen scenes like this from the West Bank. I wonder where decent Israelis are; those who protest in Tel Aviv," wrote Albanese.
"Hatred of Hamas is one thing, but do they not feel some obligation to act to stop their fellow citizens behaving like criminals on the loose?," she asked.
A shaky truce
The fresh expose into Israeli settler violence, which has long been reported, comes at a time when the Donald Trump-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hamas is hanging by a thread.
After accusing Hamas of violating the terms of the ceasefire following clashes in Rafah, Israel over the weekend launched what it described as retaliatory strikes against the Palestinian militant group's aggression.
Authorities in Gaza, meanwhile, reported 33 deaths over the weekend due to Israeli airstrikes before the IDF on Sunday night signalled that it would be returning to the terms of the ceasefire.