Rubio 'very disturbed' as US condemns settler attack on WaPo photographer in West Bank
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the US was "very disturbed" by footage of Washington Post photojournalist Heidi Levine being beaten by Israeli settlers in the West Bank, while Ambassador Mike Huckabee called the attack a "despicable act of terror" and demanded prosecutions.
The United States has urged Israel to crack down on settler violence in the occupied West Bank after video showed Israeli settlers brutally beating Washington Post photojournalist Heidi Levine, a 64-year-old American citizen clearly identified as press.
Levine was covering Palestinians’ annual olive harvest on Friday in the village of Abu Falah, northeast of Ramallah, when settlers stormed the area, kicked and beat her for around ten minutes and stole her passport, telephone, wallet and equipment, according to witnesses. She was hospitalised with a broken rib, multiple broken vertebrae and lacerations, and underwent surgery on a finger that was nearly detached from her hand, her daughter told the Associated Press.
“We’re very disturbed by those images and what we’re seeing,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters on Saturday at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, before boarding a flight to Uzbekistan. “We’ve asked the Israelis and continue to ask them to crack down on that stuff.” Rubio said the State Department had inquired about the attack and that he expected a report from the US embassy in Jerusalem by Sunday.
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee went further, calling the attack a “despicable act of terror carried out by masked cowards” and demanding a full investigation, arrest and prosecution “to the fullest extent of the law” of all participants. “Those who attacked unarmed reporter should spend YRS in prison,” he posted on X.
Washington Post executive editor Matt Murray said Levine was attacked despite being clearly marked as press: “She was clearly beaten. These are not partisan or risible statements, but indisputable. We urge a thorough investigation and accountability.” An Israeli prime minister’s office statement responded that it would not allow the “demonisation of law-abiding Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria”, according to media reports. Al Jazeera also reported that Netanyahu, ahead of closely fought October 27 elections, claimed on Friday that Palestinians or “far-left” activists may have been responsible for the attack.
Reuters reported that European diplomats and a French mayor were also attacked in the West Bank, according to Belgium’s foreign minister. Israeli monitoring group Yesh Din says settlers have carried out at least 170 attacks on Palestinians since September 27, around the start of the olive harvest.
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