Video: Israeli settler tries to stab president of Rabbis for Human Rights

Footage emerged on Friday of an Israeli settler attacking the president of Israeli group Rabbis for Human Rights.

A video posted to social media shows a knife-wielding and balaclava-clad settler apparently trying on multiple occasions to stab Rabbi Arik Asherman, who was accompanying a group of Palestinian farmers to harvest olives in the West Bank.

The settler fails to stab Asherman but is shown to kick and punch him in the minute long clip.

Before the incident took place Palestinian farmers who were harvesting their privately owned orchard saw settlers setting fire to the hillside, +972 magazine reported.

Rabbi Asherman tried to put out the fire but was stopped by the settlers, who threw stones at him, which then led to the attempted stabbing.

No one was seriously injured.

Israeli police were called but took 30 minutes to arrive at the scene, by which time the settlers had fled.

Haaretz.com reported that a police spokesman described the incident as "friction between left-wing and right-wing activists during the time of the [Palestinian] olive harvest".