Mike Huckabee, the United States ambassador to Israel, demanded on Saturday that Israel prosecute and jail those responsible for attacking American photojournalist Heidi Levine in the occupied West Bank.
Ms. Levine, 64, was assaulted on Friday while documenting the Palestinian olive harvest for The Washington Post in Abu Falah, northeast of Ramallah, Al Jazeera reported. The report identified the attackers as Israeli settlers and said Palestinians were also attacked.
“Attacking a female photographer is a despicable act of terror carried out by masked cowards,” Mr. Huckabee wrote on X. He called for a thorough investigation, arrests and prosecutions, with those responsible spending years in prison. His statement didn’t explicitly identify the attackers as settlers.
Ms. Levine received treatment at a hospital in Ramallah. Her daughter told The Associated Press that she needed surgery for a nearly severed finger and had suffered a fractured rib, several vertebral fractures and cuts.
Witness accounts described attackers carrying bottles and slingshots who beat Ms. Levine and took her passport, phone, wallet and photographic equipment. Ms. Levine said the attackers kicked her for roughly 10 minutes as she tried to hold on to her belongings. Jasper Nathaniel, a journalist, said she struggled to get up afterward.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suggested that Palestinians or left-wing activists might have carried out the attack, according to Al Jazeera. That account differed from the witness accounts identifying the assailants as settlers.
The State Department condemned “criminal violence by any party.” Mr. Huckabee, whom President Trump appointed and who has strongly supported Israel, had previously condemned settler violence against Americans. In September, he heard Palestinian-American residents describe their experiences in Turmus Aya, another West Bank town.