Israeli Settlers Attack CNN Crew Near West Bank Village of Sinjil

Four Israeli settlers were arrested by Israeli police on Saturday after attacking a CNN media crew and other journalists near the West Bank village of Sinjil. The settlers wielded wooden and metal rods and stones, with one brandishing a knife and attempting to puncture the tires of CNN's vehicle. Israeli soldiers and police were dispatched to the scene, secured the journalists' passage, apprehended the four suspects, seized their vehicle, took testimony from the media crew, and found clubs and a knife in the suspects' vehicle.

The CNN crew was in Sinjil to cover the one-year anniversary of the death of Sayfollah (Saif) Musallet, a 20-year-old Palestinian-American allegedly beaten to death by Israeli settlers in July 2025. According to the Jerusalem Post, no suspects have been arrested in connection with Musallet's killing, according to his family. US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee described the killing as a 'criminal and terrorist act,' the Jerusalem Post reported.

The Times of Israel reported that Israel has rarely carried out arrests in instances of settler violence in the West Bank, with indictments and convictions being even less frequent. Shin Bet figures from earlier in 2026 found that three times more Palestinians than Jews were victims of terror attacks in the West Bank, according to the Times of Israel.

The settlers blocked the CNN crew's vehicle and a second journalists' vehicle to prevent them from leaving, smashing the windshield of the trailing vehicle and chasing the media teams toward Sinjil, according to outlets across the spectrum.

The Times of Israel reported that CNN reporter Jeremy Diamond was part of the crew attacked near Sinjil. Earlier in 2026, Diamond had reported that an Israeli soldier put his cameraman in a chokehold while troops tried to prevent them from filming at an illegal West Bank outpost, according to the Times of Israel.

Israeli police and CNN offered different characterizations of the Sinjil incident. Israeli police described it as suspects blocking and causing 'damage' to journalists' vehicles, while CNN described it as a settler attack on its crew.

In a separate incident on Saturday, Palestinian media and the Wafa news agency reported that Israeli settlers and Israeli troops attacked a home in the West Bank village of Mughayyir, wounding several people including a man shot in the thigh, two hit by rubber bullets, and a child wounded by a stun grenade, according to the Times of Israel.

The IDF and Palestinian media offered directly contradictory accounts of the Mughayyir incident. The IDF described it as a 'confrontation' between Palestinians and Israelis in which Palestinians threw stones, while Palestinian media described it as a settler and troop attack on a home.

The Jerusalem Post reported that US Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna said he was detained by armed Israeli settlers during a West Bank visit earlier in the week. Khanna described settlers armed with machine guns and M4 rifles who blocked his group's road and called the IDF, which he said sided with the settlers. Khanna is a progressive California lawmaker in the US House of Representatives who is weighing a 2028 presidential run, according to the Jerusalem Post.

Khanna and the IDF offered competing characterizations of the detention incident. Khanna described the village he visited as one that Israeli settlers had destroyed, including its school, and said the IDF sided with the settlers. The IDF said it intervened to disperse the settlers and free his group.