Heidi Levine, the photojournalist for The Washington Post who was seriously wounded during an attack by extremist Israeli settlers in the West Bank over the weekend, told The Guardian on Wednesday that Palestinian youth had protected her.
“The Palestinian youth put themselves in front and were trying to keep them [the settlers] away, keep a protective shield, which was amazing,” Levine said, describing the scene as being “like a biblical battle.”
Levine, along with a group of Palestinians, journalists, and activists, was attacked by the settlers while harvesting olives near Abu Falah, northeast of Ramallah.
“All hell broke loose,” she recounted. “Some of the farmers started to gather their tarps and bags of olives that they had picked… all of a sudden I hear a machine gun, and then saw tear gas in the distance. I started to run.”
Levine said she was kicked and beaten with sticks “probably more than a hundred times,” including after she tried playing dead. She also said that she feared that, if she hadn’t lain down with her face to the ground, she could have suffered brain damage or lost an eye from the beating.
The settlers were forced back by Palestinian youth using slingshots to hurl stones at them, allowing US journalist Jasper Nathaniel to approach and assist Levine.
“It is no exaggeration to say that young Palestinians armed only with stones risked their lives to save Heidi Levine’s,” Nathaniel claimed afterward.
Herzog apologizes to wounded photojournalist after West Bank attack
After the incident, President Isaac Herzog called Levine to apologize.
“He was a teddy bear on the phone,” she recalled. “He kept saying I just want to give you a big hug and these are not representative of who this country is, they’re a dark stain, and he called them thugs.”
Levine was angered, however, by a claim from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office that some video footage of the “alleged attack” on her appeared to show one of the attackers knocking her down and immediately helping her back up.
“That’s such bulls***. They helped me up because they couldn’t get my things off of me. That’s why,” she said. “They robbed me of everything I have – a pouch with my documents, my American passport, credit card, camera disk, and a small camera bag with two other lenses. Everything is gone… That’s why [they stood me up], and then they threw me back down and continued to kick and hit me.”
She said that she was not confident that the settlers involved would be brought to justice, arguing that “it’s not just arresting these teenage thugs. It’s going after their leaders, the rabbis, and how they’re organized.”
Ten suspects arrested after West Bank attack
The IDF, Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), and Israel Police arrested 10 suspects early Monday morning related to the attack.
The operation, dubbed “Operation Olive Leaf,” also included the confiscation of several vehicles and the clearing of some illegal construction.
Responding to the broader situation of the US and EU accusing Israel, and to some extent specifically the IDF, of losing control of extremist settler violence in the West Bank, Defense Minister Israel Katz said he would transfer the issue to be handled by the police.
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