US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee has demanded that Israel prosecute and imprison those responsible for an attack on Washington Post photographer Heidi Levine in the occupied West Bank, according to US officials.
In a post on X on Saturday, Huckabee wrote: "Attacking a female photojournalist is a despicable act of terror carried out by masked cowards." He added: "Those who attack an unarmed journalist need to spend years in prison. We have called for a full investigation, arrest and prosecution to the fullest extent of the law of anyone involved in this."
According to witnesses, Levine was covering the annual Palestinian olive harvest on Friday in the occupied West Bank when she was violently assaulted by Israeli settlers. The group of settlers stormed the area, beat her and took her passport, phone, wallet and work equipment.
The attackers, equipped with bottles and slingshots, "kicked me for about 10 minutes while I tried to hold on to my camera and my bag," Levine recounted. Independent journalist Jasper Nathaniel, who witnessed the incident, told Al Jazeera that Levine was "in a very, very bad state. She could barely get up off the ground."
Levine, 64, was taken to hospital after the attack in Abu Falah, northeast of Ramallah. According to her daughter, who spoke to the AP, the American photojournalist underwent surgery on a finger that was nearly severed from her hand, and suffered a broken rib, several fractured vertebrae and numerous lacerations.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday that Palestinians or "far-left" activists could be responsible for the attack on Levine and other Palestinians. The statement came as Netanyahu seeks to shore up support among right-wing settlers ahead of a tight election on October 27.
Huckabee, a staunch ally of Israel who has nonetheless sharply criticized Israeli settler attacks on Americans, did not identify the perpetrators as settlers after Netanyahu sought to cast doubt on their identity. The US ambassador, appointed by President Donald Trump, met Palestinian Americans in the West Bank town of Turmus Aya in September to hear residents' accounts of their experiences with violence. In August, Huckabee described a days-long siege by Israeli settlers as "an act of terror."
The US State Department criticized Friday's attack in measured tones, condemning "criminal violence by any party."
