TEL AVIV — Ten people were arrested on Monday in the West Bank in connection with the beating of a Washington Post photographer and an alleged assault on European diplomats, Israeli authorities said.
In separate incidents on Friday and Saturday, the photojournalist, Heidi Levine, and the diplomats reported being attacked by Israeli settlers who appeared to be attempting to disrupt the annual olive harvest by Palestinian residents of the occupied territory. Levine was wearing a vest clearly identifying her as “press” on front and back.
Police said the arrests were part of Operation Olive Leaf, in which police officers, Border Police and Israel Defense Forces troops, with aerial support, entered several locations in the Binyamin area north of Jerusalem early Monday.
Items linking the suspects to the alleged offenses were seized, along with several vehicles, according to police. The suspects were detained on suspicion of involvement in the reported violence, violating a military order declaring a closed zone, and illegal construction, police said.
Security forces also cleared illegal construction and acted against the unlawful takeover of a Palestinian home, according to the police.
A resident of Abu Falah, the Palestinian village where Levine was attacked on Friday, confirmed to The Washington Post that two settler outposts there had been demolished early Monday morning.
“The law in Judea and Samaria applies to everyone, regardless of identity or affiliation,” Israel Police Commissioner Daniel Levy said in a statement. Judea and Samaria are biblical names for the West Bank used by the Israeli government.
The suspects will be brought before a court after questioning, police said.
United States officials, including Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, had demanded a full investigation into the beating of Levine, who was left with four broken vertebrae and two broken ribs and required surgery to repair a finger that was torn open.
Settler activity, including attacks on Palestinian homes and property has accelerated sharply in recent months. Settlers, emboldened by support from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, have established scores of government-backed settlements and illegal outposts, drastically reshaping the long-disputed map.
An Israeli military official acknowledged the seriousness of the violence in the West Bank but said the IDF cannot station troops at every potential flashpoint.
“Doing so would require at least 10 additional battalions, diverting forces from other operational fronts,” said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
The military has deployed two additional regular battalions, the headquarters of the 98th Division and Border Police companies, the official told The Post, but that significant personnel shortages remain.
Levine, in a brief interview on Monday, described the police response as encouraging but said more needed to be done. She noted that settler violence against Palestinian residents occurs regularly in the West Bank.
“It was good to hear that there are some arrests that have been made,” she said. “As we’ve seen before in the past just because someone is arrested doesn’t mean they are actually brought to trial. I am not as optimistic as I wish I could be but of course I’m grateful to hear that there have been some arrests and hoping that there will be more.”
Defense Minister Israel Katz, in a statement that did not mention the arrests or the attacks on Levine and the diplomats, said violence by “a handful of Jewish rioters” is a matter for the police. The military, he said, should “fight Palestinian terrorism and protect the state’s borders and the Jewish communities.”
Katz also ruled out reinstating administrative orders against settlers, calling them “draconian.” The controversial practice allows security forces to detain people without trial, on the signature of the defense minister. Israel uses the practice widely against Palestinians, but Katz ended its use against Jews in the West Bank shortly after taking office in November 2024.
“Administrative orders are not the solution — rather, strong and effective police enforcement,” he said.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, the far-right politician and overt supporter of settlers who oversees the police, said Monday in an interview with Galatz Radio that anyone who deliberately harmed Levine should be punished, but he cast doubt on her account of what happened.
“It’s worth condemning when there’s evidence,” Ben-Gvir said, adding that his children ride to school in an armored car. “Let’s not turn the victim into the accused.”
Ben-Gvir acknowledged that “hilltop youth” — a term often used by Israeli officials to refer to radical young Jewish settlers — sometimes “cross the line” and should be dealt with severely. But he added: “Let’s not forget who the real victim is here, and who the attacker is.”
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