Democrats party chairman Yair Golan and MK Gilad Kariv condemned the government’s inaction in the wake of the Friday West Bank attack on Washington Post photojournalist Heidi Levine after visiting her in the hospital on Sunday.
In a post on X/Twitter, Golan described sitting with Levine as she recounted the attack, allegedly committed by Jewish extremist settlers.
“I sat across from her, together with MK Gilad Kariv, and heard about the moments of terror. About the awful fear that she wouldn’t come out of there alive,” Golan explained. “A 65-year-old woman. Facing a gang of hate-filled Jewish rioters.”
Kariv decried the attack as an attempted murder, adding that in the aftermath of the violent attack, “no government or military authority handled her transfer to a hospital in Israel, and the matter was managed by her colleagues.”
Kariv further claimed that, as of the time of his visit, no entity from the government or Government Press Office had visited Levine in the hospital.
According to Kariv, the police had not yet recorded her testimony and had instead sent a representative to inform Levine that officers would take her statement once they found an English translator.
Golan, Kariv decry government inaction, vow to combat West Bank violence
Both Golan and Kariv blamed the current government for the lack of action, with Kariv calling it an example of “total systemic breakdown.”
“Under the auspices of Netanyahu and Smotrich, we have transformed from a nation that aspired to be an exemplary society into one where Jews are capable of committing such a brutal act of violence,” Golan asserted.
He continued to say that Jewish terror endangers all aspects of Israeli national security and its standing on the global stage, warning that if the violence is not stopped soon, all of Israel will pay a heavy price.
Golan said that he promised Levine that if he is elected in October, he will personally take responsibility for restoring order in the West Bank.
“We will combat both Palestinian terror and Jewish terror with determination, an iron fist, and zero leniency. We will cut off their funding sources, dismantle the hotbeds of violence, and provide our security forces with full backing to take action against anyone who spreads terror or harms innocent people,” he vowed.