US ambassador urges Israel to prosecute attackers of US journalist | News from the occupied West Bank

US Secretary of State Rubio separately urged Israel to “crack down” on settler violence after the attack on a photographer.

US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee called on Israel to prosecute and imprison those responsible for the attack on US journalist Heidi Levine in the occupied West Bank, while US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington wanted Israel to do more to deter settler attacks.

“Attacking a female photographer is a despicable act of terror perpetrated by masked cowards,” Huckabee wrote on X on Saturday.

“Those who attacked an unarmed journalist should spend years in prison,” he added. “We have called for a thorough investigation, arrest and prosecution to the fullest extent of the law against anyone involved in this matter. »

Rubio said Saturday that the U.S. State Department had inquired about the attack on Levine and that he hoped to receive a response from the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem by Sunday.

“We are very troubled by these images and by what we see,” he told reporters at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland. “We have asked and continue to ask the Israelis to crack down on this kind of thing. »

⁠Rubio’s comments to reporters came after the widespread distribution of a video showing settlers attacking Levine, a Washington Post photojournalist.

Rubio said U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration would communicate its expectations to the Israelis “to prevent this from happening in the future.”

“We don’t need it right now; Israel does not need it at the moment,” he added.

Levine was covering the Palestinians’ annual olive harvest Friday in the occupied West Bank when Israeli settlers brutally attacked her and several Palestinians.

Israeli settlers stormed the area, beat her and stole her passport, phone, wallet and equipment, according to witnesses.

The attackers, armed with bottles and slingshots, “kicked me for about 10 minutes, and I was trying to hold on to my cameras and my bag,” Levine said.

Jasper Nathaniel, an independent journalist who witnessed the attack, told Al Jazeera that Levine “was in very, very bad condition. She couldn’t really get up.”

Levine, 64, was taken to hospital after the attack in Abu Falah, northeast of Ramallah.

The American photojournalist underwent surgery on her finger, which was almost detached from her hand, and was left with a broken rib and several broken vertebrae, as well as lacerations, her daughter told the Associated Press news agency.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who wants to strengthen his right-wing, pro-settler base ahead of hotly contested Oct. 27 elections, said Friday that Palestinians or “far-left” activists could be responsible for the attack on Levine and other Palestinians.

Meanwhile, Ambassador Huckabee, a staunch Israeli ally who has sharply criticized Israeli settler attacks on Americans, did not identify the culprits as settlers after Netanyahu tried to sow doubt about their identity.

The Trump-appointed ambassador met with Palestinian-Americans in the occupied West Bank town of Turmus Aya in September to hear testimony from residents about their experiences with the pogroms. In August, Huckabee called the days-long siege by Israeli settlers an “act of terror.”

The State Department criticized Friday’s attack, using a cautious tone toward Levine’s beating, condemning “criminal violence from any party.”

Israeli settlers have been involved in at least 170 pogroms against Palestinians since September 27, when the olive harvest began, according to Yesh Din, an Israeli group that monitors illegal Israeli settlements.