US Ambassador Demands Justice for Attacked American Journalist Heidi Levine in West Bank

United States Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, has called on Israel to prosecute and imprison those responsible for the assault on Washington Post journalist Heidi Levine in the occupied West Bank. "Attacking a female photographer is a despicable act of terror carried out by masked cowards," Huckabee stated on X on Saturday. He added, "Those who attacked unarmed reporter should spend YRS in prison." The ambassador further emphasized, "We have called for a full investigation, arrest, and prosecution to the fullest extent of the law to whoever participated in this." Levine was documenting the annual olive harvest by Palestinians in the occupied West Bank on Friday when she, along with several Palestinians, was reportedly attacked by Israeli settlers. Witnesses reported that Israeli settlers stormed the area, assaulted Levine, and stole her passport, telephone, wallet, and equipment. Levine recounted that the perpetrators, armed with bottles and slingshots, "were kicking me for like 10 minutes, and I was trying to hold onto my cameras and my bag." Jasper Nathaniel, an independent journalist who observed the attack, informed Al Jazeera that Levine "was in very, very bad shape. She couldn’t really get up off the ground." The 64-year-old American freelance photojournalist was transported to a hospital in Ramallah following the assault in Abu Falah, northeast of Ramallah. According to her daughter, speaking to The Associated Press, Levine underwent surgery for a nearly detached finger, sustained a broken rib, multiple broken vertebrae, and lacerations. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, facing elections on October 27 and aiming to solidify his pro-settlement right-wing base, suggested on Friday that Palestinians or "far-left" activists might have been behind the attack on Levine and other Palestinians. Huckabee, a strong supporter of Israel who has previously condemned Israeli settler attacks against Americans, did not identify the attackers as settlers, especially after Netanyahu attempted to cast doubt on their identity. The ambassador, appointed by US President Donald Trump, had met with Palestinian-Americans in the occupied West Bank town of Turmus Aya in September to hear their accounts of pogroms. In August, Huckabee described a prolonged Israeli settler siege as an "act of terror." The US State Department issued a measured response to Friday's attack, condemning "criminal violence by any party."