Injured West Bank Photographer Criticizes Netanyahu Over ‘Alleged’ Attack Label

JERUSALEM: A Washington Post photographer who was seriously injured in a violent assault by Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank has criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for dismissing the incident as “alleged” despite overwhelming evidence of the attack.

Heidi Levine, speaking from her hospital bed to The Associated Press, revealed she sustained multiple injuries including broken vertebrae during the assault, which occurred amid the sensitive olive harvest season. She expressed being “shocked and insulted” that Netanyahu referred to the attack as “alleged,” noting that the prime minister had access to all available evidence.

The attack, which also targeted Palestinians, followed a day after coordinated assaults on European diplomats in a Christian village, underscoring what human rights organizations describe as a surge in settler violence throughout the region.

While Netanyahu has attributed such incidents to a small number of “troublemakers,” Levine described receiving more empathetic responses from other Israeli leaders. She praised a phone call from President Isaac Herzog, who she said condemned the attackers as “thugs” and expressed shame over the incident, describing the perpetrators as “a stain on Israeli society.”

Levine also received a letter signed by over a dozen former senior security and intelligence officials, including former Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon, former Mossad Director Tamir Pardo, and former Shin Bet Director Ami Ayalon. The letter stated: “We are deeply ashamed that Jewish terrorists in the West Bank continue to inflict suffering on innocent Palestinians, assault those who come to their defense, and target those who document and expose their despicable conduct.”

Despite ongoing legal proceedings with no new developments reported by police, Levine remains undeterred in her commitment to documenting the situation in the region, stating: “I’ve invested decades of blood, sweat and tears into this. They cracked my bones, they haven’t cracked my spirit.”

International observers have expressed growing concern over the frequency of settler attacks, with hundreds of Palestinians reportedly targeted during the current olive harvest season, resulting in fatalities and the destruction of centuries-old olive trees that hold deep cultural significance for Palestinian communities.

US Ambassador Mike Huckabee condemned the attack on Levine as a “despicable act of terror carried out by masked cowards,” while opposition leader Yair Golan visited her in the hospital. Gadi Eisenkot, Netanyahu’s main electoral rival, criticized the government’s response on social media, writing that such incidents are “burning up the last shreds of legitimacy left to the state of Israel.”

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