Al Jazeera Investigation Casts Doubt on Israel's Account of Attack on Journalist Heidi Levine

An Al Jazeera investigation has raised questions about Israel's official accounts of an attack by settlers on Palestinian olive harvesters and an American photojournalist on Friday in Khirbet Abu Falah, northeast of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.

The investigation, carried out by Al Jazeera's Data Journalism Unit, used open-source verification and analysis of visual and geographic evidence.

Israel's official accounts of the events are inconsistent. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office questioned whether Israeli settlers were responsible, while the Israeli military said its forces were handling a confrontation between Palestinians and settlers at the time.

But verified footage and mapped coordinates show an organized attack by masked settlers, while Israeli military vehicles passed by minutes earlier without intervening.

The October 16 incident left veteran Washington Post photojournalist Heidi Levine, 63, with a broken rib, four fractured vertebrae and injuries requiring hand surgery, despite her wearing clearly marked press body armor.

To establish what happened, the Data Journalism Unit tracked and analyzed more than 20 videos and photographs recorded by journalists and witnesses at the scene. The team independently verified the material, arranged it in chronological order, spoke with local journalists and mapped the key locations.

The geography of the attack

Spatial analysis identified the settler outpost from which the attackers set out, the harvesting plot and the spot where Levine was assaulted.

The point where Levine was attacked was identified at 32°01'13.5"N 35°18'40.7"E, about 455 meters southwest of a hilltop outpost near the Misholash settlement and only 120 meters north of the plot where Palestinians were picking olives.

The investigation team also identified the rooms Palestinians typically use to store fertilizer and farm tools and sometimes to spend the night. These rooms are near the outpost, 430 and 500 meters northeast of the attack site. A local journalist, who asked not to be named for security reasons, said the Palestinian owners can no longer enter the rooms, where settlers now live and gather.

According to the journalist, the outpost lies in Area B under the Oslo Accords, where the Palestinian Authority handles civil affairs and Israel retains security control. Usually only a few settlers live at the outpost to "prove" a presence, but whenever an incident occurs, 50 to 100 settlers from other outposts gather there before moving down into the fields.

He also said settler tents on a nearby mountain overlooking the village serve as additional staging points for attacks on anyone harvesting olives.

A chronological record of evidence

Tracking the material in sequence shows a gradual escalation before the attack.

The movements began around 8 a.m. when a four-wheel-drive vehicle carrying settlers headed toward the scene, followed by six motorcycles moving toward the area facing the harvesters. In a video posted shortly after 9 a.m., about 30 settlers are seen gathering near the farmers.

Al Jazeera correspondent Tharwat Shaqra, who was at the scene, said Israeli military vehicles drove through the area and that after they passed, settlers moved toward the journalists and farmers "as if it were a signal of permission." Israeli independent journalist Oren Ziv noted that the military jeeps made no move to stop the masked men.

The settlers then set fire to olive trees and advanced toward the harvesters, prompting village youths to respond by throwing stones.

Later footage captured Levine being assaulted after she was knocked to the ground. Her colleagues could only reach her once Palestinian youths pushed the settlers back with stones.

American journalist Jasper Nathaniel, who helped pull her out, wrote on X: "The only reason I could reach Heidi is because Palestinian youth provided cover with stones against the settlers and soldiers with machine guns and tear gas." He added that after the attack, the army pursued Palestinian youths rather than the settlers.

Around the same time, a video recorded the sound of four gunshots and then two more; correspondent Tharwat Shaqra confirmed the shots came from the settlers' side.

Israeli forces appear to have deployed to the attack site only in later footage, with vehicles stationed in the settlers' area. Soldiers later shot at local council member Abdel Jaber Obeid and blocked an ambulance before the victims reached hospital, while the army continued firing tear gas at the olive harvesters.

Israel's conflicting statements

The timeline and geographic data contradict Israel's official accounts.

The Israeli Prime Minister's Office said the "circumstances surrounding the confrontation near Abu Falah, in which Washington Post photojournalist Heidi Levine was allegedly assaulted, remain unclear and are under investigation." It cited reports that "about 200 Arabs and extreme left-wing activists confronted about 40 Israeli youths."

However, footage and testimony show settlers gathered, moved down and set trees on fire before the youths responded, and the assault on Levine was captured on video.

The military, by contrast, did not question the assault but acknowledged that a foreign journalist was injured. The Israeli military said forces were dispatched "following reports of a violent confrontation" and dispersed it with "riot dispersal measures." It said soldiers "fired warning shots into the air and then fired at a suspect who ran toward them carrying a sharp object," without mentioning the settlers or their gunfire.

The Israeli military's international spokesperson, Ariella Mazor, told the Washington Post that soldiers in the area were trying to disperse a large and violent crowd and did not see the assault on Levine.

But video evidence and other testimony show military vehicles in the area drove past the settlers without intervening, and Israeli forces ultimately directed tear gas at Palestinians after the attack.

Widespread reaction

The attack drew widespread reaction. US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee called for "those who attacked an unarmed journalist to serve years in prison."

He said that "attacking a female photojournalist is a despicable act of terror carried out by cowardly masked men."