United States Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee has demanded that Israeli authorities prosecute and imprison the assailants behind a violent attack in the occupied West Bank that left a veteran American photojournalist hospitalised with broken vertebrae. The assault targeted Heidi Levine, a prominent photographer on assignment for The Washington Post, who was documenting Palestinian farmers during their annual olive harvest.
According to eyewitnesses, illegal Israeli settlers severely beat Levine before stealing her passport, mobile telephone, wallet, and camera equipment. Hospital officials confirmed on Saturday that Levine remains admitted in moderate condition with spinal fractures.
"Attacking a female photographer is a despicable act of terror carried out by masked cowards," Huckabee posted on the X platform, adopting a markedly stronger tone than previous statements issued by Washington. "Details of who under investigation, but those who attacked unarmed reporter should spend (years) in prison. We have called for a full investigation, arrest, and prosecution to the fullest extent of the law to whoever participated in this."
Huckabee, a long-standing ally of Israel who has nevertheless condemned previous illegal settler assaults against American nationals, stopped short of explicitly naming the culprits while investigations proceed. The envoy's forceful condemnation followed attempts by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to sow doubt surrounding the identity of the perpetrators. Seeking to consolidate his right-wing, pro-settlement electoral base ahead of tightly contested parliamentary elections on October 27, Netanyahu insisted on Friday that Palestinian residents or "far-left" activists might have staged or carried out the assault.
The ambassador's remarks contrast with the US State Department's earlier response on Friday, which took a cautious approach by merely stating that Washington condemns "criminal violence by any party." The olive harvest across the occupied West Bank has faced repeated disruptions and violent confrontations from illegal Israeli settlers in recent weeks.
