Two Americans were “severely” beaten Thursday and Friday in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, and outrage poured in as U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee remained silent on the matter.
Heidi Levine, a veteran journalist and photographer for The Washington Post, was “severely” beaten Friday, the Post reported, while “wearing a protective vest clearly marked PRESS on front and back.” She was “kicked repeatedly” after being knocked to the ground, and “stripped of her cameras and phone” by Israeli settlers.
“I just got back actually two days ago from three weeks in Ukraine,” Levine said from a hospital bed, video shared by independent journalist Jasper Nathaniel showed. “I’ve been covering this conflict here for over three decades, and this is the second time that I’ve been brutally attacked — 15 years ago I was also attacked in front of the [Israeli] army.”
Haitham Taysir, a U.S. citizen, was assaulted on Thursday “while working in his family’s olive groves,” The Vulnerable People Project reported.
Huckabee, the chief diplomatic representative in Israel whose top responsibilities include protecting U.S. citizens, has condemned Israeli settler violence in the past. He has also, however, ignored violent attacks on Americans in Israel.
“An American citizen, Haytham Taysir, was just severely beaten by settlers in his olive groves in Burqa, Ramallah,” wrote Nathaniel in a social media post on X. “[Huckabee], how’s that crackdown on settler terrorists going?”
Nathaniel, who rushed to Levine’s aid shortly after the attack, provided additional details on the incident.
“The [Israel Defense Forces] provided cover, with tear gas and machine guns, while the settlers beat Washington Post journalist Heidi Levine nearly to death,” Nathaniel wrote. “Then the IDF shot a Palestinian bystander, and aimed their guns and shoved the paramedics who were trying to treat him. All of this [is] documented.”
Journalist and former MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan was left shaken by video of Levine receiving medical treatment.
“Israeli settlers, funded and protected by the United States, attacked this female American journalist in her sixties,” Hasan wrote in a social media post on X.
There are more than 700,000 Israeli settlers illegally living in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, with instances of Israeli settler violence reaching record-high levels in recent months.
Heidi Levine is up and speaking from the hospital in Ramallah. https://t.co/VAar6Z7PSS — jasper nathaniel (@infinite_jaz) October 16, 2026
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