WaPo photojournalist beaten by settlers slams Netanyahu after surgery on nearly detached finger

Washington Post photographer Heidi Levine on Saturday underwent surgery on her finger, which was nearly detached from her hand after she was beaten by settlers in the West Bank a day earlier, while hitting out at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for casting doubt about the attack. The assault occurred near the village of Abu Falah, north of Ramallah, where some 80 settlers, many of them masked and some of them carrying gas canisters, descended from a hill to the terraced olive grove and began throwing rocks and beating Palestinians and accompanying activists, as well as Levine. Levine said the perpetrators — armed with bottles and slingshots — “were kicking me for like 10 minutes and I was trying to hold onto my cameras and my bag.” She said her helmet and protective vest, which was marked “PRESS,” likely saved her from more serious injuries. Levine said the attack ended when her Palestinian colleagues intervened, after which medics rushed her in an ambulance to a clinic in Abu Falah and then to a hospital in Ramallah. In footage, the photojournalist was seen at one point lying on the ground as masked individuals beat her with sticks before fleeing the scene. Get The Times of Israel's Daily Edition by email and never miss our top stories Newsletter email address Get it By signing up, you agree to the terms Her daughter, Ashley Milner, told the Associated Press on Saturday that the finger on her mother’s left hand was cut to the bone and a tendon was visible. She said Levine also had a broken rib and multiple broken vertebrae, as well as lacerations across her body. Severe settler + soldier attack on olive harvesters in Abu Falah. American WaPo journalist Heidi Levine badly wounded. Machine gunfire—at least one Palestinian shot. Tear gas. Soldiers assaulting journalists. pic.twitter.com/He61cNYk0c — jasper nathaniel (@infinite_jaz) October 16, 2026 Advertisement Rabin Medical Center in central Israel, where Levine was being treated, said Saturday afternoon that she was in moderate condition after the surgery. In an interview from her hospital bed, Levine recalled the attack to Channel 12 news, saying that after she arrived on the scene she could see masked men with tzitzit , at which point “everyone started to scatter.” At that point, she said, she was set upon by a group of men, who she said numbered at least 20. “They threw me to the ground, and they just started kicking me and beating me with sticks,” she said. “I’ve had two doctors and a nurse suspect that I was actually stabbed in and near my buttocks area, from maybe a knife,” Levine continued. “Other colleagues have told me that they’ve even seen that the settlers are now tying nails onto their sticks.” “They broke my cameras off my shoulders. They broke the straps. At one point they stood me up on my feet because they weren’t trying to help me; they were actually trying to rob me further,” she added. Advertisement Then, she said, the assailants pushed her back down and continued hitting her. “I didn’t think I was going to make it,” she recalled. She slammed Netanyahu for suggesting that the settlers were trying to help her up, after his office put out a statement asserting she “was allegedly assaulted” and that the facts of the attack were “unclear and are under investigation.” “That is such a lie and the biggest insult,” said Levine. According to her, the Palestinians were trying to push settlers away, and without them, “I probably would have been dead.” “Mr. prime minister, maybe take another look at those videos, okay? And really look at those videos with your full attention because you’ll see nobody was trying to help me except for my colleagues,” she said. This photograph, a still from a video clip, appears to show Heidi Levine, a photojournalist with the Washington Post, carried from the scene after being attacked by Israeli settler extremists in the West Bank, October 16, 2026 (Agenzia Fotogramma/ipa-agency.net/Sipa USA via Reuters) “I’m not going to let what happened to me yesterday stop me,” Levine stressed. “I am not going to let these thugs, which I’m sorry to say, are, in my words and in my mind and other people’s minds, literally Jewish terrorists, and they are destroying the whole image for everyone in Israel all over the world.” “Because when anyone hears the word Israeli or the country Israel, the only thing that comes to their mind is these guys who did what they did to me yesterday, and I have been to so many funerals of people who have been killed by them,” she added. Advertisement “They stole my camera, my gear, my documents, but they didn’t steal my commitments.” Earlier, Levine’s daughter expressed concern the injury to her finger may “end her career” as a photojournalist and described the wounds as “life changing.” “She feels betrayed. It’s difficult for us to see her in this situation, after dozens of years in which she covered wars and conflicts around the world,” Milner told the Kan public broadcaster. Milner also decried “the slander on social media, where people are claiming that she’s a leftist and deserves what happened to her. My mom just showed up to do her job as a journalist.” US politicians condemn ‘unconscionable’ attack The attack on Levine was denounced by President Isaac Herzog, whose office said he spoke with her on Saturday. “I strongly denounce this appalling and shocking phenomenon of violence, both the terrible attack you underwent and additional severe cases like what happened today in Taybeh ,” Herzog’s office quoted him as telling Levine. “The despicable conduct of these criminals does not represent the citizens or values of the State of Israel.” He also called for law enforcement “to act with an Iran hand against any manifestation of violence.” US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee described the attack on Levine as a “despicable act of terror” and declared that those responsible should spend years in prison. Without specifically blaming extremist settlers, Huckabee said the details of the incident are under investigation. Advertisement “Attacking a female photographer is [a] despicable act of terror carried out by masked cowards. Dishonorable act of senseless violence,” he wrote on X. Heidi Levine, photojournalist for @wapo suffered serious injuries from vicious & cowardly attack. Heidi is US Citizen, clear ID as journalist. Details of who under investigation, but those who attacked unarmed reporter should spend YRS in prison. We have called for a full… — Ambassador Mike Huckabee (@GovMikeHuckabee) October 17, 2026 The assault was also widely condemned by numerous Democratic lawmakers, with US Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland calling it “unconscionable and a moment of reckoning for the world.” “Are we going to tolerate accelerating vigilante violence against Palestinian civilians and foreign observers by right-wing vigilantes who operate with government protection?” Raskin asked on X. “Reports that this was a coordinated attack are incredibly concerning, as are reports that IDF soldiers did not intervene,” said New Jersey Senator Andy Kim. “I will continue to call for an investigation and accountability.” “She said attackers picked her up, then threw her down again and kept kicking,” wrote progressive California Representative Ro Khanna, who said he was detained by armed settlers in the West Bank earlier this year. Khanna charged that settlers “operate with impunity,” adding: “We need to cut off aid to Israel that is used to fund settler activity, and stop the sales of these weapons.” American photojournalist Heidi Levine pictured at a hospital in the West Bank city of Ramallah after being injured in an attack by extremist Jewish settlers during the annual olive harvest in the village of Abu Falah, near Ramallah, October 16, 2026. (Flash90) “This must be a wakeup call,” Texas Representative Joaquin Castro, another Democrat, wrote on X. “Attacks like this one pave the way for the violent land grabs taking place throughout the West Bank and push us further away from peace.” Also condemning the attack was Israeli Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter, who told CNN late Friday that those carrying out violence in the West Bank must be held accountable for their actions. “Those perpetrating the violence have to be brought to justice,” Leiter said, adding that if Israel “has not yet reached a passing grade on bringing Jewish vigilantes to justice then we’ve got to do a better job, and I’m convinced that we are going to do it.” Leiter claimed he has heard in government meetings Netanyahu speaking “emphatically about putting a stop to this.” The attack on Abu Falah was one of several assaults on Palestinian villages across the West Bank on Friday, with perpetrators setting fire to cars and trees and beating residents. Israeli forces fire tear gas at Palestinian farmers, preventing them from continuing the olive harvest as they attempt to cross an iron gate erected by the Israeli army in the village of Salem, east of Nablus in the West Bank, October 17, 2026. (Nasser Ishtayeh/Flash90) Settler violence against Palestinians has soared this year and spiked further in the weeks leading up to Israel’s October 27 election. Critics accuse the government of condoning and even encouraging the violence, which has led to the displacement of dozens of Palestinian families. Netanyahu has downplayed the near-daily attacks as the work of a small number of delinquents, not from the West Bank, though that assessment has been contradicted by security sources. The IDF also faces mounting criticism for troops often standing by while attacks unfold, actively participating or failing to prosecute those responsible. 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