Washington Post reporter suffers fractures, injuries due to beatings in Israeli settler attack
A 63-year-old photographer for The Washington Post has sustained fractures and various injuries due to an assault by a group of extremist Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank.
Heidi Levine stated that her protective helmet likely saved her life when she was brutally attacked by approximately 15 masked Zionist settlers while documenting the olive harvest in the Palestinian village of Khirbet Abu Falah, located north of Ramallah, on Friday.
The violent incident resulted in her equipment being damaged and heightened concerns about the risks journalists face while reporting in the West Bank.
Left out here: Leaves out what changes the picture
The article never says that the settlers were attacking the Palestinian olive harvesters Levine was photographing. Other outlets report that settlers threw stones at the farmers and set olive trees on fire, and that Palestinian men were wounded. Without this, a reader could take the assault on Levine as a single attack on one journalist rather than one part of a raid on a Palestinian village during its harvest.
How we know
- CNN reported“Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank attacked her and a group of Palestinians during the annual olive harvest”Washington Post journalist hospitalized after Israeli settler attack on Palestinian olive harvest in West Bank (opens in a new tab)
- Common Dreams reported“at least two Palestinian men were reportedly wounded in the attack”Israeli Settlers Brutally Beat Washington Post Journalist Heidi Levine While Attacking Palestinian Olive Farmers (opens in a new tab)
- The New York Times reported“Dozens of masked Israeli settlers on Friday attacked a group of Palestinians while they were picking olives”Israeli Settlers Attack Palestinians and Washington Post Journalist in West Bank (opens in a new tab)
“I saw them attacking from about 500 meters away,” Levine remarked, referring to the masked group.
As they approached, she attempted to retreat with her gear, but the assailants caught up, pushed her to the ground, and struck her on the head.
“They kicked me at least 15 times,” she recounted, explaining that the attack lasted about 10 minutes before they knocked her down again.
Levine emphasized that she tried to protect her camera and other equipment during the assault, which resulted in her phone and other belongings, including the earphone cable she was wearing, being destroyed.
“Had it not been for my helmet, I wouldn’t be alive here,” she stated.
Palestinian journalists and medical teams hurried to assist Levine following the attack, first taking her to a medical center in Khirbet Abu Falah and later transferring her to a nearby hospital for further treatment.
She mentioned that she has been reporting on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict for at least three decades, and this was the second time she had been attacked by illegal settlers while on assignment.
She recalled a similar incident from about 15 years ago near the Israeli settlement of Havat Gilad, which occurred in the presence of Israeli military and security forces.
Addressing the parents of the attackers, Levine questioned how individuals could be raised to commit such acts of violence.
“How can parents raise these human monsters instead of human beings?” she asked.
Since Israel launched its genocidal war on Gaza three years ago, there has been an increase in attacks by settlers throughout the occupied Palestinian territory.
International human rights organizations have condemned the Israeli regime for enabling settler violence in an effort to expand its control over Palestinian land.
Read the original article on presstv.ir (opens in a new tab)