US ambassador urges Israel to prosecute over 'act of terror' against American photographer

Heidi Levine, a photojournalist with the Washington Post, speaks to journalists at the hospital after sustaining multiple injuries during an attack by Israeli militant settlers on Palestinians harvesting olives, in Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, October 16, 2026. ALI SAWAFTA / REUTERS US Ambassador Mike Huckabee on Saturday, October 17, demanded that Israel prosecute and jail the assailants in a West Bank settler attack against a Washington Post journalist, Heidi Levine. "Attacking a female photographer is a despicable act of terror carried out by masked cowards," Huckabee wrote on X, taking a far stronger tone than an earlier statement from Washington. Huckabee, a staunch ally of Israel who has nonetheless sharply criticised settler attacks against Americans, did not identify the culprits as settlers, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tried to sow doubt as to their identity. "Details of who under investigation, but those who attacked unarmed reporter should spend (years) in prison," Huckabee continued. "We have called for a full investigation, arrest, and prosecution to the fullest extent of the law to whoever participated in this." Read more Subscribers only Pressure and violence against journalists intensify in Israel Levine, a veteran photographer, was taken to hospital with broken vertebrae. She was listed on Saturday as being in moderate condition. She had been covering Palestinians' annual harvest of olives, which has been repeatedly disrupted by Israeli settlers. Settlers beat her and stole her passport, telephone, wallet and equipment, according to witnesses. Netanyahu, who wants to shore up his pro-settlement right-wing base ahead of close-fought October 27 elections, on Friday insisted that Palestinians or "far-left" activists may have been responsible. The US State Department on Friday took a cautious tone on Levine's beating, saying It condemns "criminal violence by any party." Le Monde with AFP