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Finn Joughin was detained and due to be deported from Israel yesterday
A British Pro-Palestine activist faces deportation over the alleged assault of a minor during a confrontation with armed settlers in the West Bank.
Finn Joughin, 22, was carrying out a protective presence in the Palestinian community of Umm al-Khair, south of Hebron, on Saturday when he was seized by settlers and handed to Israeli police.
Protective presence groups, made up of Israeli and international activists, place themselves in areas vulnerable to settler attacks in an effort to deter violence and document incidents.
Video from Saturday appears to show Joughin positioning himself between a settler child and a wall, as the child attempted to move past him.
Israeli police later said they were investigating a complaint from a settler alleging that Joughin had committed an indecent act against a minor.
Joughin had been detained after the incident and was due to be deported from Israel yesterday in light of the accusation.
His lawyer, Inbar Shaked Vardi, strongly rejected the allegation and accused Israeli authorities of using deportation to remove activists from the West Bank.
According to people who said they witnessed the incident, Palestinian children had been playing football when children from nearby settler families became involved.
The settler children then allegedly went towards a Palestinian home and began dismantling a fence, prompting activists to intervene.
Joughin was filmed being escorted away by at least three armed settlers.
Ms Vardi said he was held in a shed for about 30 minutes before being transferred to police custody and that she was not aware of any other person being detained for questioning.
“Officials from the British embassy in Tel Aviv have raised the case with the Israeli authorities and are seeking further information,” a spokesman for the UK Foreign Office said in a statement.
The detention comes amid growing international concern over violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank, with Palestinian communities increasingly reporting attacks originating from settler outposts established close to their homes.
Settlements in the occupied West Bank are considered illegal under international law - a position rejected by Israel - while some outposts are also illegal under Israeli law.
The UN has reported a sharp increase in displacement linked to settler violence since 2023, with 38 Palestinian communities having been emptied of their residents earlier this year.
Between January and June, some 2,200 Palestinians were displaced following attacks affecting 230 communities, while hundreds more were forced to seek alternative accommodation after demolitions authorised by Israeli authorities.
Parts of Qusra, near Nablus, remained surrounded by settlers more than three weeks after Israeli troops entered the area, reportedly to remove them.
The move, described as the “siege of Qusra”, was criticised by Mike Huckabee, US ambassador to Israel, after it emerged that property involved was owned by an American citizen.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog called the wider situation a “direct and flagrant defiance” of Israeli law and values.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also recently criticised settler violence, including an assault on a US television reporter covering events in the West Bank.
