United States Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee has demanded that Israel prosecute and jail those responsible for an attack on Washington Post journalist Heidi Levine in the occupied West Bank. Writing on X on Saturday, he called the assault on a female photographer a “despicable act of terror carried out by masked cowards.”
Huckabee said the attackers should spend time in prison and that Washington had called for a full investigation, arrest and prosecution “to the fullest extent of the law.”
Settlers attack American photojournalist during olive harvest
Levine, 64, was covering the Palestinians’ annual olive harvest on Friday when, according to witnesses, Israeli settlers stormed the area and attacked her and several Palestinians. Witnesses said the group beat her and stole her passport, telephone, wallet and equipment.
Armed with bottles and slingshots, the attackers were “kicking me for like 10 minutes,” Levine said, adding that she tried to hold onto her cameras and bag. Jasper Nathaniel, an independent journalist who saw the attack, said she “was in very, very bad shape. She couldn’t really get up off the ground.”
Levine’s injuries and hospital treatment in Abu Falah
Levine was taken to hospital after the assault in Abu Falah, northeast of Ramallah. Her daughter said she underwent surgery on a finger that was nearly detached from her hand, and that she suffered a broken rib, multiple broken vertebrae and lacerations.
Netanyahu’s comments and the US response to the attack
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is seeking to shore up his pro-settlement right-wing base before closely fought elections on October 27, claimed on Friday that Palestinians or “far-left” activists may have been responsible for the attack on Levine and other Palestinians.
Huckabee, a staunch ally of Israel who has sharply criticised settler attacks on Americans, did not identify the culprits as settlers after Netanyahu tried to cast doubt on their identity. In August, he had called a days-long Israeli settler siege an “act of terror.”
The US State Department took a more cautious tone, condemning “criminal violence by any party” in response to the attack on Levine.
