US ambassador urges Israel to prosecute attackers of American journalist

US Secretary of State Rubio separately urges Israel to ‘crack down’ on settler violence after attack on photographer.

US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee [File: Ammar Awad/Reuters]

United States Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee has demanded Israel prosecute and jail those responsible for the attack on American journalist Heidi Levine in the occupied West Bank, while US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said Washington wants Israel to do more to deter settler attacks.

“Attacking a female photographer is a despicable act of terror carried out by masked cowards,” Huckabee wrote on X on Saturday.

list 1 of 3 Settlers set fire to mosque in West Bank as Israeli forces raid villages

list 2 of 3 Israeli plan to reopen settler ‘Route 463’ threatens to isolate Ramallah

list 3 of 3 Palestine weekly: Gaza marks year of ‘ceasefire’ with more Israeli killing

“Those who attacked unarmed reporter should spend YRS in prison,” he added. “We have called for a full investigation, arrest, and prosecution to the fullest extent of the law to whoever participated in this.”

Rubio said on Saturday that the US State Department had inquired about the attack on Levine and that he expected to hear back from the US embassy in Jerusalem by Sunday.

“We’re very disturbed by those images and what we’re seeing,” he told reporters at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland. “We’ve asked the Israelis and continue to ask them to crack down on that stuff.”

⁠Rubio’s comments to reporters came after the widespread dissemination of video showing settlers attacking Levine, a photojournalist with The Washington Post.

Rubio said the administration of US President Donald Trump would communicate its expectations to the Israelis “to prevent that from happening in the future”.

“We don’t need that right now; Israel doesn’t need that right now,” he added.

Levine was covering Palestinians’ annual olive harvest on Friday in the occupied West Bank when Israeli settlers brutally attacked her and several Palestinians.

Israeli settlers stormed the area, beat her and stole her passport, telephone, wallet and equipment, according to witnesses.

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”, Levine said.

Jasper Nathaniel, an independent journalist who witnessed the attack, told Al Jazeera that Levine “was in very, very bad shape. She couldn’t really get up off the ground.”

Levine, 64, was taken to hospital after the assault in Abu Falah, northeast of Ramallah.

The American photojournalist underwent surgery on her finger, which was nearly detached from her hand, and was left with a broken rib and multiple broken vertebrae, as well as lacerations, her daughter told The Associated Press news agency.

American freelance photojournalist Heidi Levine lies on a gurney in the emergency room of the government hospital in Ramallah, a city in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, on October 16, 2026 [AFP]

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who wants to shore up his pro-settlement right-wing base ahead of closely fought October 27 elections, claimed on Friday that Palestinians or “far-left” activists may have been responsible for the attack on Levine and other Palestinians.

Meanwhile, Ambassador Huckabee, a staunch ally of Israel who has sharply criticised Israeli settler attacks against Americans, did not identify the culprits as settlers after Netanyahu tried to sow doubt as to their identity.

The Trump-appointed ambassador met Palestinian-Americans in the occupied West Bank town of Turmus Aya in September to hear locals’ testimony about their experiences with pogroms. In August, Huckabee called a days-long Israeli settler siege an “act of terror”.

The State Department criticised Friday’s attack using a cautious tone on Levine’s beating, stating condemnation of “criminal violence by any party”.

Israeli settlers have been involved in at least 170 pogroms against Palestinians since September 27, around the start of the olive harvest, according to Yesh Din, an Israeli group that monitors illegal Israeli settlements.

美国国务卿卢比奥另行敦促以色列“严厉打击”定居者暴力行为，此前一名摄影师遭到袭击。

美国驻以色列大使迈克·赫卡比 [图片：Ammar Awad/路透社]

美国驻以色列大使迈克·赫卡比要求以色列起诉并监禁那些对在被占领的约旦河西岸袭击美国记者海蒂·莱文负有责任的人，而美国国务卿马可·卢比奥则表示，华盛顿希望以色列采取更多措施来阻止定居者袭击。

“袭击女摄影师是蒙面懦夫实施的卑鄙恐怖行为，”哈克比周六在 X 网站上写道。

列表 1/3：以色列军队突袭西岸村庄，定居者纵火焚烧清真寺

以色列计划重开定居者“463号公路”，此举威胁拉马拉的稳定，该计划共列出3项，此举为第2项。

巴勒斯坦周刊（共3期，第3期）：加沙庆祝“停火”一周年，以色列方面造成更多人员伤亡

“那些袭击手无寸铁记者的人应该被判处多年监禁，”他补充道。“我们呼吁对参与此事的任何人进行全面调查、逮捕和依法严惩。”

鲁比奥周六表示，美国国务院已就莱文遇袭事件进行询问，他预计周日之前会收到美国驻耶路撒冷大使馆的回复。

“我们对这些画面和我们所看到的感到非常不安，”他在马里兰州安德鲁斯联合基地告诉记者。“我们已经要求以色列方面严厉打击此类行为，并将继续这样做。”

鲁比奥向记者发表上述评论之前，一段视频被广泛传播，视频显示定居者袭击了《华盛顿邮报》的摄影记者莱文。

鲁比奥表示，美国总统唐纳德·特朗普的政府将向以色列方面传达其期望，“以防止此类事件再次发生”。

“我们现在不需要那个；以色列现在也不需要那个，”他补充道。

周五，莱文在被占领的约旦河西岸报道巴勒斯坦人一年一度的橄榄收割活动时，遭到以色列定居者的残酷袭击，她和几名巴勒斯坦人也遭到袭击。

据目击者称，以色列定居者冲进该地区，殴打了她，并抢走了她的护照、手机、钱包和设备。

莱文说，施暴者手持瓶子和弹弓，“踢了我大约 10 分钟，我当时拼命想抓住我的相机和包”。

目睹袭击事件的独立记者贾斯珀·纳撒尼尔告诉半岛电视台，莱文“情况非常非常糟糕。她根本无法从地上站起来。”

64岁的莱文在拉马拉东北部的阿布法拉赫遭到袭击后被送往医院。

据美联社报道，这位美国摄影记者接受了手指手术，她的手指几乎与手掌分离，此外她还肋骨骨折、多节脊椎骨折，以及多处撕裂伤。她的女儿告诉美联社。

2026年10月16日，美国自由摄影记者海蒂·莱文躺在以色列占领的约旦河西岸城市拉马拉的政府医院急诊室的担架上。[法新社]

以色列总理本雅明·内塔尼亚胡希望在10月27日竞争激烈的选举前巩固其支持定居点的右翼基础。他周五声称，巴勒斯坦人或“极左”活动人士可能应对莱文和其他巴勒斯坦人遭受的袭击负责。

与此同时，以色列的坚定盟友、曾严厉批评以色列定居者袭击美国人的美国大使哈克比，在内塔尼亚胡试图散布怀疑嫌疑人身份的情况下，并没有将肇事者认定为定居者。

特朗普任命的大使于9月在被占领的约旦河西岸城镇图尔穆斯阿亚会见了巴勒斯坦裔美国人，听取了当地居民关于他们遭受种族屠杀的证词。8月，哈克比称以色列定居者对该镇长达数日的围困是“恐怖主义行为”。

美国国务院对周五发生的袭击事件进行了批评，但对莱文遭到殴打一事语气谨慎，表示谴责“任何一方的犯罪暴力行为”。

据监督以色列非法定居点的以色列组织 Yesh Din 称，自 9 月 27 日（橄榄收获季开始前后）以来，以色列定居者至少参与了 170 起针对巴勒斯坦人的屠杀事件。