Video taking off 59x its usual first day

A French mayor describes masked attackers at a West Bank olive harvest

Bernard Baudoux's account and dashboard footage of a demand for ID have made this the most watched Short in WSJ News history.

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WSJ News Story of October 19, 2026Trari Newsroom

Why this story? The video opened at a pace of 624,495 views a day, 59 times a normal first day on this channel (10,556).

Masked Israeli Settlers Attacked European Diplomats in West Bank | WSJ News

Bernard Baudoux, the mayor of Aulnoye-Aymeries in France, sits on the ground against an SUV as the WSJ News Short begins. He had gone to Taybeh, he explains, for a symbolic olive-picking visit with a group that included European diplomats. Near the end of it, he says, people arrived by car, hooded and masked "so as not to be recognized," and began attacking the group.

The report then cuts to dashboard footage. Masked figures approach a vehicle, and one of them asks through the window, "Where is your ID?"

On-screen text says Belgian officials blamed Israeli settlers for the attack on the diplomats and others. Israeli officials condemned it and said a police investigation was under way. The video's description adds that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, heading toward election day, called violence against diplomats unacceptable but warned against "premature conclusions."

The Short has passed 800,000 views in about a day and a half. That makes it the channel's most watched Short ever, with more than twice the views of the one in second place. The comment section filled far faster than usual: well over a thousand comments on the first day, where a typical WSJ News Short draws a handful.

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