CNN crew assaulted and briefly detained while covering Israeli outpost in West Bank 

Washington, D.C., March 30, 2026—Israeli soldiers detained and assaulted a CNN crew on March 26 in the village of Tayasir in the northern West Bank, where the journalists had arrived to document settler violence and the establishment of a new illegal settler outpost. 

Within minutes, Israeli soldiers pointed their rifles at the crew of media workers, demanded that they cease filming, put CNN photojournalist Cyril Theophilos in a chokehold, damaged a camera, and detained the journalists. They were released two hours later. 

“This constitutes a clear infringement on journalists’ right to document and report on the escalating settler violence taking place in the West Bank,” said CPJ Regional Director Sara Qudah. “Israeli authorities have an obligation not only to hold the perpetrators of this incident to account, but to open swift investigations into all cases of rampant rights violations against journalists, local and international alike.”

CNN reported that one soldier’s stated justification for his actions was to protect the illegal outpost and as an act of revenge for the death of settler Yehuda Sherman, who was killed in a collision with a Palestinian vehicle on March 21. Jeremy Diamond, CNN’s Jerusalem correspondent who was targeted in the attack, confirmed that this soldier has since been dismissed. 

In response to CPJ’s request for information regarding the event, Military spokesperson Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani stated that “the behavior and statements of the soldiers in this case do not reflect the [Israel Defense Forces] and do not represent the expected conduct of IDF soldiers. An investigation will be initiated.”

Israeli military chief of staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir has since suspended the operational activities of the battalion that perpetrated the detention and assault, withdrawing the unit from their station in the West Bank, and assigning them to undergo training “aimed at reinforcing its professional and ethical foundations.”