US, Israeli, and Palestinian officials condemned the violent confrontation between extremist Israeli settlers and Palestinians near the village of Abu Falah in the West Bank on Friday, after Washington Post photojournalist Heidi Levine was wounded during the clashes.
While the Israeli condemnations largely called for further investigation to determine the facts, US and Palestinian condemnations accused Israeli settlers of having attacked Levine.
United States Representative Jamie Raskin, a Democrat from Maryland, described the reported attack on Levine as “unconscionable and a moment of reckoning for the world.”
“Are we going to tolerate accelerating vigilante violence against Palestinian civilians and foreign observers by right-wing vigilantes who operate with government protection?” he wrote in a post on X/Twitter.
Sen. Andy Kim, a Democrat from New Jersey, said: “Reports that this was a coordinated attack are incredibly concerning, as are reports that IDF soldiers did not intervene.”
“I will continue to call for an investigation and accountability,” Kim wrote.
Rep. Ro Khanna, a Democrat from California, called for the US to cut off aid to Israel that was used to fund settler activity and halt weapons sales.
“We need to cut off aid to Israel that is used to fund settler activity, and stop the sales of these weapons,” Khanna wrote on X.
Khanna further accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of calling Levine "a liar" in a separate X post following a statement by the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) on Friday, which condemned the violence while noting that the facts still "remain unclear and are under investigation."
"Netanyahu, you are the liar with the blood of Palestinian children on your hands," Khanna claimed.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois called out Israel for failing to maintain order. “Israeli authorities must hold those responsible for this attack accountable and stop enabling broader efforts to annex the West Bank,” she wrote on X. “The safety of Palestinians, Israelis and Americans in the region depends on it.”
IDF investigating violent West Bank incident between extremist settlers, Palestinians
The IDF said its forces and Border Police officers were dispatched to the area near Khirbet Abu Falah following reports of a violent confrontation.
"Foreign media personnel were present at the scene, and a female journalist had been injured during the confrontation," the military said.
Upon arriving, forces “acted to disperse the confrontation using riot dispersal means,” it added. The IDF said the circumstances surrounding the incident would be investigated.
At a separate location where a confrontation took place, IDF soldiers fired warning shots into the air and "subsequently toward a suspect who ran toward them carrying a sharp object and posed a threat to them," the statement added.
The IDF condemned violence against civilians, saying that “attempts to incite friction between populations undermine security in the area.”
Netanyahu calls for investigation as facts remain unclear
The circumstances surrounding the confrontation remain under investigation, with the PMO saying on X that “Israel unequivocally condemns violence against anyone. Jews, Arabs, Christians, or journalists. Those responsible will be held accountable.”
The office said reports indicated that approximately 200 Arabs and left-wing activists had confronted around 40 Israeli youths.
“The investigation must establish the facts, including who initiated the violence,” the office said.
“We will not allow disputed incidents to be exploited to demonize the hundreds of thousands of law-abiding Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria,” it added.
Yashar party chairman Gadi Eisenkot responded to the confrontation, saying in a post on X, “We condemn criminal violence and call for the investigation and prosecution of those “This handful of rioters does not represent the public in Israel,” Eisenkot said. “The actions of this handful stain an entire nation and severely harm the security of all Israeli citizens and IDF fighters.”
'Hell for us': Palestinian mayor describes the incident
Nazem Saleh Shuman, the mayor of Abu Falah adjacent to the site of the violence, also reacted to the incident, telling The New York Times that, “This place became unlivable.”
“This is a residential place, where the people live next to their fields, next to their land.”
“But it's become a hell for us,” he added.
“This is our land, we were born here, our ancestors came from here, and we've lived here all our lives,” he added. “We believe in this place, and we take care of it. We have nowhere else to go.”
The NYT cited numbers from Israeli human rights group Yesh Din, which monitors settler violence, which said it had documented 82 violent incidents against olive harvesters, 135 instances of crop theft and 39 cases of damage to or destruction of trees.
The investigation into the Abu Falah confrontation was ongoing as officials and lawmakers called for those responsible to be identified and held accountable on Saturday.
The Mateh Binyamin Regional Council, which administers Israeli settlements in the area, blamed the Palestinian Authority for the confrontation.
The council said the Palestinian Authority had “led hundreds of anarchists and terrorists into a direct confrontation with Israelis near Abu Falah, all under the cover of the olive harvest.”
"Footage from the scene shows terrorists launching fireworks directly at people and hurling stones at Israelis, while journalists stand behind them, documenting this deliberate provocation," it said.
The council also alleged that the PA orchestrated the incident, claiming PA patrol vehicles were present at the scene.
The council said clashes between Israelis and Palestinians had eventually been dispersed by Border Police officers and that several activists had been injured.
Levine describes being kicked and having equipment taken
Levine, a veteran photojournalist who was covering the olive harvest, said she was knocked to the ground and repeatedly kicked during the confrontation by masked and hooded attackers.
The identity of the attackers remains unknown as an investigation into the incident continues.
“After about 10 minutes, they tried to make me get up; they pushed me back to the ground and continued kicking me,” she said.
“I tried to hold on to my cameras and my side bag, but in the end they just ripped everything from me and kept kicking me,” she added.
Doctors said Levine had a broken rib and lacerations on her legs, rear end and hip, as well as a serious cut on her left hand, according to her son, Michael Milner.
Washington Post Executive Editor Matt Murray condemned the incident in a statement reported by N12 News, saying Levine wore visible identification marks that clearly identified her as a journalist.
“We are appalled by this unjustified attack on a journalist who was doing her job,” Murray said. “We call on the authorities to conduct a thorough investigation and act on its findings.”
The US Embassy in Jerusalem told N12 that it was aware of the incident and was monitoring the situation.
Yoav Etiel, Amir Bohbot, and Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report.