A group of social media influencers participating in a tour of Palestinian homes in the Binyamin village of Turmus Ayya, organized by the Regavim movement, came under attack on Monday morning.
Turmus Ayya is located in Area B of Judea and Samaria, where the Palestinian Authority exercises civilian control and Israel retains security responsibility. The village is also known for its large population of U.S.-Palestinian dual citizens, estimated to make up 80% to 90% of its residents.
Fleur Hassan-Nahoum, the No. 5 candidate on the Amcha Yisrael Party list in Israel’s upcoming elections and a former host of JNS’s The Quad podcast, was among those on the tour.
She recounted the incident to JNS.
Hassan-Nahoum said the group was divided into three cars, and were peacefully touring the area, when they were approached by around seven young Palestinian men who “aggressively surrounded their vehicles.”
The group demanded that they leave the area.
According to Hassam-Nahoum, when the group saw how angry the locals were, they turned their cars around and headed toward the village’s exit.
She said that another six to 10 Arabs were waiting at the exit with huge rocks, and began pelting the vehicles.
“We all ducked, but one of the thrown rocks smashed into our car, shattering the window,” she said.
One of the passengers in her vehicle was lightly wounded in the attack, and received medical treatment from Israel Defense Forces medics in the area after exiting the village, she said.
The incident, she said, reflected what she described as a deeply entrenched anti-Israel bias.
“The propaganda against us runs so deep that even an incident in which Israelis are attacked will be reported as ‘Jewish settler violence.’ We were simply driving around peacefully. These people can go to Jerusalem and pray on the Temple Mount, while we can’t even enter the village. That’s the warped reality we live in,” she said.
A Regavim spokesperson told JNS that the group was shaken by the attack but remained committed to exposing the reality on the ground.
“It was a terrifying incident, and we felt lucky to have escaped unharmed. We’ve taken part in these types of tours many times without incident, so it was a terrible feeling. We shouldn’t have to live with these kinds of threats, but we will continue to tell the truth about what’s happening here, both throughout Israel and around the world,” the spokesperson said.
