NBC News’ Matt Bradley Responds Following Assault
NBC News international correspondent Matt Bradley has come forward following a physical assault he faced while on assignment abroad.
“We’ve been reporting on settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank for years. But yesterday, we found ourselves in a dire situation,” Bradley shared on Instagram on Sunday, August 30. “A group of masked settlers attacked our team and severely injured a 51-year-old woman we were interviewing.”
While the journalist reassured his followers that everyone is now safe, he noted, “this is just one instance in an unprecedented rise in settler violence throughout the West Bank.”
During a segment on NBC’s Sunday Today, Bradley broadcast footage of masked individuals in a gray vehicle with an Israeli license plate, brandishing sticks and stones as they approached the scene.
According to Bradley, the unnamed assailants shattered their car’s windshield, assaulted crew members with clubs, and brutally attacked a Palestinian woman — an interview subject named Aida Ahmed Abdalla — causing her to lose consciousness.
“I’m safe and recovering. I was hit twice on the arm,” Bradley informed anchor Willie Geist. “In fact, every member of my team, including the producer, cameramen, and one of the drivers, were all assaulted, but we’re all on the mend.” (Abdalla is also recovering and has since been released from local hospital care.)
Geist described the assault as a “truly appalling attack” and expressed relief for the safety of his colleagues.
“Matt, I’m glad you’re safe after what we must warn our viewers was a deeply disturbing incident,” he said.
In a conversation with NBC News, producer Lawahez Jabari suggested that the situation could have been much more dire.
“Suddenly, a car approached us,” she recounted after receiving medical treatment. “The settlers were wielding sticks. I saw a gun, but thankfully, they didn’t use it.”
Camera operator Khaldoon Eid, who resides in the West Bank, remarked, “We never anticipated that they would come to attack. We were situated within a Palestinian area adjacent to Palestinian homes.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his spokesperson denounced the violence against the NBC News team as well as other incidents in the region over the weekend.
Netanyahu stated that the “criminal acts of violence committed in the villages of Kosra and Jalud by a small group of rioters violate the law, inflict enormous injustice on the law-abiding settler community, impede the IDF in its missions, and damage Israel’s reputation globally.”
Bradley brings years of experience covering conflict in the Middle East. Prior to his role with NBC News, Bradley reported on Egypt, Lebanon, and Iraq for the Wall Street Journal.
