USA “worried” with pictures of photojournalist assaulted in the West Bank

O head of U.S. diplomacy stated that the United States is “very concerned” with the images of the assault on a Washington Post photojournalist by Israeli settlers and called on Israel to take action against these acts.

“ We are very concerned about these images,” Marco Rubio told journalists on Saturday before leaving for a visit to Uzbekistan and India. “We called on the Israelites – and we continue to appeal – to take firm action,” he added.

Heidi Levine, American photojournalist of the Washington Post, was transported to the hospital with vertebral fractures. The assault occurred when he covered the olive harvest in Abu Falah, in the occupied West Bank.

The United States ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, demanded on Saturday that the Israeli authorities hold and hold the settlers involved in the attack aimed at the United States.

“ Attacking a photographer is an act of ignoble terrorism perpetrated by masked cowards,” Huckabee wrote on social network X.

On Friday, the Foreign Press Association in Israel (FPA) reported that the American journalist suffered “moderate injuries” and received treatment in a local hospital due to blows inflicted on various parts of the body.

According to the organization, the settlers also stole his passport, his cell phone, his wallet and his professional equipment.

In a statement released on Saturday, the President of Israel, Isaac Herzog, expressed “deep regret” and apologized to Heidi Levine, who today was operated by the left hand.

“As President of the State of Israel, I strongly condemn this indignant and shocking violence, both the terrible attack on him and other serious incidents of violence, such as today in Taybeh,” where colonists attacked a group of politicians and diplomats from France, Belgium and Poland, Herzog said in the statement.

In the same text, he stated that “the despicable behavior of the authors” of the attack on Heidi Levine “does not represent the citizens or values of the State of Israel” and added that the circumstances “are to be investigated thoroughly” to judge those responsible.

On Friday, the Israeli Prime Minister's office, Benjamin Netanyahu, questioned the circumstances of the colonist attack that injured the American photojournalist.

The attack, which was committed by about 50 Israeli settlers against Palestinians taking part in the olive harvest, provoked criticism from leaders of the Israeli opposition, who demanded action against those responsible and even classified them as “Jewish terrorists”.

Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967, following the Six-Day War, also maintaining the annexation of East Jerusalem, not recognized by the international community.

Side by side with some three million Palestinians and more than 500,000 Israelis currently live in settlements in the West Bank, considered illegal by the United Nations in the light of international law.

The colonization policy has been maintained by successive Israeli governments since 1967, but intensified after the formation of the current executive led by Benjamin Netanyahu at the end of 2022, and gained new momentum following the attack of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas on October 7, 2023.

Violence has also worsened since October 2023, with almost daily attacks by Jewish settlers against Palestinians.