by Miceál O’Hurley
NEW YORK ― Yesterday’s attack on Washinton Post photojournalist Heidi Levine by Israeli settlers is the latest in a long series of sometimes deadly attacks on journalists by Israeli armed forces and settlers in occupied Palestinian territory. The European Diplomat – Diplomacy in Ireland has joined the Overseas Press Club and media outlets worldwide in condemning the attacks on our colleague and demanding accountability for the crime.
The office of Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu has so far refused to corroberate the attack or accept responsibility for the latest attack on the free press. In a statement issued by his office, Netanyahu claims, “The facts surrounding the confrontation near Abu Falah, during which Washington Post photojournalist Heidi Levine was allegedly assaulted, remain unclear and are under investigation”.
Israeli settlers are rarely if ever prosecuted for their attacks on Palestinians or members of the media. In another recent attack on the media occuring October 6, veteran photographer for Agence France-Presse in Palestine, 58-year-old Jaafar Ashtiyeh, was assaulted. Ashtiyet was beaten by Israeli settlers using the butts of their rifles. He was identifiably marked as press. Ashtiyeh was assaulted in view of about a dozen armed Israeli soldiers who took no action to stop the assults or record identifying information about the illegal Israeli settlers carrying out the attack.
On October 16, 2026, Levine was reporting on Israeli settler attacks upon Palestinian olive farmers. Despite being clearly marked as a member of the media, Levine was attacked by a group of Israeli settlers at Abu Falah in the occupied West Bank. The Washington Post, for which she was reporting, confirms Levine was wearing a vest clearly identifying her as a member of the press. The Israeli Settlers who attacked her and the Palestine olive farmers robbed her of her phone and cameras.
Levine was seriously injured in the attack.
Transported to a hospital in Ramallah, Levine presented with multiple lacerations, a broken rib, four broken vertebrae and a ripped finger. In a video statement made from hospital, Levine said, “Today I was brutally attacked. We saw in the distance, in the hilltop, I would say at least 50-masked men, slingshots. And when they came running down, I was attacked, pushed to the ground. They just kept kicking me and kicking me”.
According to witnesses, Israeli soldiers arrived during the attack and fired tear gas at the Palestinians. Reportedly, Israel Defense Forces did not attempt to control the settlers. Israeli military and police personnel have been recorded repeatedly acting to allow illegal settlers to engage in violence. Video reported by various sources sometimes show Israel Defense Force personnel joining in the violence against Palestinians.
Levine, an American photojournalist formerly of the AP news service and Sipa Press Photo Agency, now covering the war in Gaza for th Washington Post, has covered conflicts in Afghanistan, Kosovo, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Syria and Ukraine on assignment. Her work has also highlighted critical news stories such as female feticide in India, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Syrian refugee crisis.
Levine’s photojournalist has be published in many outlets, including The Washington Post, The New York Times, Stern, National Geographic, Paris Match, L’Express, Newsweek, Time, The New York Times Magazine, The Sunday Times Magazine, Forbes, and The Globe and Mail. According to Levine, her photographs of the Bucha Massacre in Ukraine resulted in most of the imaged she took of the Russian attrocities against Ukrainian civilians being “too shocking” to ever be published.
Fundamental to the issue beyond the wanton criminality undertaken by illegal Israeli settlers by the use of collective violence, including attacks upon the media. At heart of the matter is Israel cooperating with the Israeli settlers in depriving the public of the right to know about these ongoing attacks. The European Diplomat calls for a credible, thorough, impartial and transparent investigation into Levine’s attack and the others on October 16.
The right of the free press who risk their safety and security to document on-the-ground realities of conflicts is essential to press freedoms, the right of a democratic society to be well and truthfully informed and for the protection of civilians. The rule of law often relies on the media having both access and the ability to publish the truth. Individuals and States have a responsibility to ensure the media can function and discharge their duties as part of civil society functions.
