Masked Settlers Beat a Washington Post Photographer in West Bank Olive Harvest Attack
Heidi Levine, wearing a vest marked 'press,' was kicked and had her cameras stolen as Palestinian Red Crescent counted 20 injured across two dozen attacks.
Masked Israeli settlers attacked Palestinians as they harvested olives in the occupied West Bank on Friday, injuring several people, including an American photojournalist. The Washington Post said the photographer, Heidi Levine, was reporting in the West Bank and wearing a protective vest clearly marked "press" when she was beaten.
"Today I was brutally attacked," Levine said in a video filmed at a hospital and posted online. She described seeing "at least 50 masked men, slingshots" on a hilltop in the distance. "And when they came running down, I was attacked, pushed to the ground," she said. "They just kept kicking me and kicking me." The attackers also stole her cameras and phone. Medical workers rushed her to a hospital by ambulance.
The Post said the attack happened while Palestinians were trying to harvest their olives, and that settlers set olive groves on fire and hurled stones with slingshots. Washington Post Executive Editor Matt Murray said the paper was relieved that Levine received medical care and is safe. "We are outraged by this unwarranted attack on a journalist doing her job and urge a thorough investigation and follow-through from authorities," he said.
Israeli police issued a statement acknowledging reports that a foreign journalist was injured and said they would investigate and "bring those involved to justice." The office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was less direct, asserting on social media that the facts "remain unclear and are under investigation." Murray pushed back quickly. "To be clear: Some facts are neither in dispute nor unclear," he wrote on X. "Our photographer was clearly marked as Press. She was clearly beaten."
The U.S. State Department said it was aware of the reports and had contacted the Post to offer consular assistance. "We condemn criminal violence by any party in the West Bank and support appropriate investigations as well as legal accountability for those responsible," the department said. Its statement did not mention the assault on the American photojournalist.
Levine was not the only person hurt. The Palestinian Red Crescent Society counted two dozen settler attacks on olive harvesters on Friday, leaving 20 people injured. The United Nations humanitarian office for Gaza and the West Bank said settler attacks during this year's olive harvest season have killed one Palestinian and damaged more than 2,500 olive trees or saplings.
The assault follows another earlier this month, when Israelis beat Agence France-Presse photojournalist Jaafar Ashtiyeh as he covered settler violence against Palestinian olive farmers. Settler groups have stepped up their attacks on Palestinians across the West Bank. Sara Qudah, who handles the Middle East for the Committee to Protect Journalists, said the beating of Levine was not isolated. "It's part of a disturbing pattern of violence and harassment against journalists regardless of their nationalities," she said, adding that attackers have no reason to fear consequences because Israeli authorities fail to stop the violence. The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate also condemned the attack as an "assault on press freedom."
