Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at Israeli settler attacks in the West Bank, Russian strikes on Ukraine’s power grid, and a looming independence referendum in a Canadian province.
‘They Just Kept Kicking Me’
Dozens of masked Israeli settlers carried out a mass coordinated attack on Palestinian civilians harvesting olives in eight West Bank villages on Friday, injuring at least 20 people and setting olive groves on fire. Among those targeted in the assault was Washington Post photojournalist Heidi Levine, who was wearing a protective vest marked “PRESS” when she was attacked. Levine is being treated for a broken rib and multiple lacerations and will require surgery on one of her hands.
Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at Israeli settler attacks in the West Bank, Russian strikes on Ukraine’s power grid, and a looming independence referendum in a Canadian province.
‘They Just Kept Kicking Me’
Dozens of masked Israeli settlers carried out a mass coordinated attack on Palestinian civilians harvesting olives in eight West Bank villages on Friday, injuring at least 20 people and setting olive groves on fire. Among those targeted in the assault was Washington Post photojournalist Heidi Levine, who was wearing a protective vest marked “PRESS” when she was attacked. Levine is being treated for a broken rib and multiple lacerations and will require surgery on one of her hands.
“They just kept kicking me and kicking me, like probably 50 times,” Levine told reporters. Other journalists in the area reported having stones thrown at them, forcing them to flee.
This is not the first time that reporters have been targeted in the West Bank. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, Israeli settlers assaulted, threatened, or obstructed at least 35 journalists working in the occupied territory during the first eight months of this year. That does not include Palestinian AFP photojournalist Jaafar Ashtiyeh, who was attacked by armed Israeli settlers outside of the city of Nablus on Oct. 6.
Friday’s assault on Levine “is the latest in a long line of violent attacks by Israeli settlers against journalists and other civilians in the occupied West Bank,” the Israeli Foreign Press Association said in a statement. “Yet our repeated calls for action to confront this lawlessness have been ignored by Israeli authorities.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly brushed off Israeli settler attacks on Palestinians, and some of his cabinet ministers have pushed for the expansion of Israeli settlements, which are considered illegal under international law. Between January and August of this year, the United Nations documented more than 1,600 settler attacks in the West Bank and at least 76 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces or settlers.
Settler attacks routinely target the annual fall olive harvest, which is traditionally done by Palestinian families and is a vital source of income for many Palestinians in the West Bank. This year, Israel imposed new restrictions on the olive harvest, prohibiting Palestinians from harvesting their trees in Area C (a part of the West Bank under Israeli military control) without first getting the military’s approval. Most of the West Bank’s agricultural land is in Area C.
Netanyahu’s office said on Friday that it is investigating the most recent spate of attacks, including the assault on Levine. However, it stopped short of blaming the Israeli settlers for inciting the violence. “Reports indicate some 200 Arabs and far-left activists confronted approximately 40 Israeli youths,” the prime minister’s office wrote on X.
It is unclear whether Netanyahu’s hesitance to condemn Israeli settler attacks will impact the country’s upcoming parliamentary elections. However, Israel’s opposition leaders have already seized on Friday’s incident to denounce the prime minister’s hold on power.
“The Jewish terror attacks, this time also against the ‘Washington Post’ photographer, are not a failure of the government—they are the government’s policy,” Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid wrote on X.
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What We’re Following
Energy attacks. Russian strikes across Ukraine on Friday plunged hundreds of thousands of households into darkness as Moscow accelerated its assault on energy infrastructure ahead of winter. In past years, the Kremlin has targeted Kyiv’s power grid to try to freeze Ukrainians into submission. This time, Russia has the added leverage of launching strikes on Ukraine at the same time that Kyiv’s relationship with Washington is deteriorating.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky abandoned a brief truce on targeting Russia’s oil refineries on Thursday in light of several recent controversial decisions out of Washington, including reported U.S. threats to withhold intelligence from Kyiv as well as the Trump administration reportedly limiting Ukraine’s access to military-grade Starlink services. Renewing Ukrainian strikes on Russian crude directly defied U.S. President Donald Trump’s wishes; the White House had unilaterally announced the limited cease-fire on Sunday in a bid to bring down high fuel costs ahead of next month’s U.S. midterm elections.
Zelensky attended a summit with European Union officials on Friday, during which he praised “real leaders” in Europe. Trump, however, has stayed notably silent on the issue, having yet to publicly comment on Ukraine’s return to oil strikes or on Russia’s most recent energy attacks. Ukrainian officials have warned that Moscow is stockpiling ballistic missiles for future assaults on Ukraine’s power grid.
Risk of division. As Canada prepares for a separatist referendum in the province of Alberta on Monday, Prime Minister Mark Carney has offered a few words of warning. “This referendum comes at the worst possible time,” Carney told attendees of a pro-Canada rally on Thursday. “Some outside our borders are working to break us so they can own us.” Although he did not mention the United States explicitly, his comments were seen as a thinly veiled reference to Trump’s repeated threats to make Canada the 51st U.S. state.
Alberta will hold an initial, nonbinding referendum early next week to determine whether its residents wish to remain part of Canada. A simple majority in favor of separation is required to begin the legal process, though polls suggest that around 70 percent of Albertans wish to stay in Canada. This will be the first time that the oil-rich province will hold such a vote; however, it is not the first province to do so. Earlier this month, Quebec’s pro-separatist Parti Québécois won a provincial election but vowed to hold off on its own referendum until after Trump has left office.
Many Canadian officials, including Carney, fear that growing polarization within Canada will only benefit the United States, particularly as the White House doubles down on its trade war against the country. “A vote against Canada is a dangerous bluff that will lead to years of deep division and great uncertainty,” Carney said on Thursday.
Targeting the palace. Houthi rebels fired missiles at Yemen’s presidential palace in the city of Aden on Thursday, killing at least five people and wounding 16 others. Although Yemen’s prime minister and cabinet members were not hurt, the assault signaled another escalation in the conflict, as the strikes were the Iranian-backed group’s first direct attack on the seat of Yemen’s internationally recognized, Saudi-backed government since fighting between Houthi and Saudi forces reerupted in July.
According to Houthi spokesperson Yahya Saree, the assault aimed to fulfill the rebel group’s policy of targeting “Saudi reinforcements wherever they were located.” A Houthi-run news agency accused the presidential palace of being the military headquarters of Saudi officers and of containing weapons depots, though neither claim could be independently verified. Meanwhile, Riyadh accused the Houthis of attempting to hit dozens of Saudi sites on Thursday, including civilian infrastructure.
Still, the brunt of recent Houthi attacks has centered on the Yemeni cities of Marib and Taiz as well as along the Red Sea coast. Some front-line facilities in these areas have recorded more than 700 hospital admissions in a single week, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross. Analysts argue that a Houthi victory in Taiz, specifically, could mark a massive turning point in the war, as it is one of the last anti-rebel urban strongholds in southern Yemen.
What in the World?
India’s opposition parties marched to the Supreme Court on Monday in protest of what recent event?
A. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision to run for a fourth term
B. The revelation of a scandal in medical school admissions
C. A purge of voter lists that allegedly favored the ruling party
D. The government signing a contract with surveillance company Flock
Odds and Ends
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi told lawmakers on Wednesday that her daily routine requires her to work longer hours than her male counterparts. “In the morning, I take a bath, fix breakfast and do the dishes, then apply makeup,” Takaichi told a parliamentary session, estimating that these tasks add three to four hours to her day. Her comments sparked backlash from some Japanese residents who say that she is promoting old-fashioned gender stereotypes. According to Japanese government figures, women spend nearly five hours a day doing household chores compared to men’s average of 40 minutes.
And the Answer Is…
C. A purge of voter lists that allegedly favored the ruling party
Whether Modi navigates this volatile turning point through dialogue or further authoritarian overreach could determine India’s democratic trajectory, Sushant Singh argues.
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