US Ambassador Huckabee Condemns Settler Attack on American Photojournalist Heidi Levine as an “Act of Terror”

JERUSALEM: The United States Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, has strongly condemned an attack by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank that left Washington Post photojournalist Heidi Levine seriously injured, describing it as a despicable act of terror carried out by masked cowards and calling for those responsible to be arrested and prosecuted.

In a post on X on Saturday, Ambassador Huckabee described the assault as vicious and cowardly, stressing that Levine is a US citizen and had been clearly identified as a journalist at the time. He termed the incident a dishonourable act of senseless violence.

Levine, an award-winning photographer who has covered conflict zones around the world for more than four decades, was attacked on Friday, October 16, while documenting the annual Palestinian olive harvest near the village of Abu Falah, northeast of Ramallah. According to eyewitness accounts and video footage, dozens of masked settlers dressed in black descended on the harvesters, setting olive trees on fire and hurling stones at Palestinian farmers. Footage of the incident showed Levine lying on a dirt path, shielding her face as several settlers surrounded and struck her, even after she had fallen to the ground.

The Washington Post said Levine had been wearing visible markings clearly identifying her as a member of the press. She later said the assault ended only when her Palestinian colleagues intervened. She was taken first to a clinic in Abu Falah and then to a hospital in Ramallah, and has since been transferred to Tel Aviv, where she is recovering from hand surgery, broken ribs and other injuries.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio separately urged Israel to do more to deter settler violence after video of the attack circulated widely. The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday that the circumstances of the confrontation near Abu Falah remained unclear and were under investigation.

The incident was followed on Saturday by a separate assault on a group of European diplomats in another West Bank village, allegedly by Israeli settlers, which Israeli police are also investigating. The two incidents have provoked outrage among sections of Israeli society and renewed international concern over escalating settler violence against Palestinian communities.

Huckabee has previously denounced violent settlers, last month describing such behaviour as an act of terror during a visit to Palestinian American residents affected by months of attacks. In August, three NBC journalists and a Palestinian woman they were interviewing were also attacked by settlers in the West Bank.