An Al Jazeera investigation has challenged official Israeli narratives regarding an attack by settlers on Palestinian olive harvesters and an American photojournalist on Friday in Khirbet Abu Falah, northeast of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.
The investigation by Al Jazeera’s Data Journalism Unit used open-source verification and analysis of visual and geographic evidence.
Official Israeli accounts of what happened differ: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has questioned whether Israeli settlers were to blame at all, while the Israeli army has suggested that the military was engaged in addressing a confrontation between Palestinians and settlers at the time.
But verified footage and mapped coordinates reveal a coordinated attack by masked settlers, with Israeli military vehicles passing by shortly before the incident, without intervening.
The October 16 pogrom left veteran Washington Post photojournalist Heidi Levine, 63, with a broken rib, four fractured vertebrae, and wounds requiring hand surgery, despite wearing a clearly marked press vest.
To establish the facts, the Data Journalism Unit monitored and analysed more than 20 videos and photos taken by journalists and witnesses on the ground. The team independently verified the footage, arranged it chronologically, communicated with local journalists, and mapped key locations.
Geography of attack
Geospatial analysis pinpoints the settler outpost where the attackers originated, the harvesting land, and the location of the assault on Levine.
The attack on Levine was mapped at the coordinates 32°01’13.5″N 35°18’40.7″E. This site is approximately 455 metres southwest of an outpost on a hill near the Misholash settlement, and just 120 metres north of the land where Palestinians were picking olives.
The unit also identified rooms traditionally used by Palestinians to store fertiliser and agricultural tools, and where farmers occasionally spend the night. These rooms are near the outpost, 430 and 500 metres northeast of the attack site. A local journalist, speaking on condition of anonymity due to security concerns, said that Palestinian owners can no longer enter these rooms, where settlers now stay and gather.
The journalist explained that the outpost is located in Area B under the Oslo Accords, where the Palestinian Authority (PA) manages civil affairs and Israel retains security control. While only a few settlers typically reside in the outpost to “prove” their presence, during any incident, 50 to 100 settlers from other outposts gather there before descending on the fields.
He noted that other settler tents on the adjacent mountain overlooking the village serve as additional gathering points to attack anyone harvesting olives.
Chronological evidence
Tracking the footage chronologically reveals a gradual escalation leading up to the attack.
Movements began around 8am when a 4×4 vehicle carrying settlers headed towards the site, followed by six motorcycles moving towards the area opposite the harvesters. In a video posted shortly after 9am, about 30 settlers are seen gathering near the farmers.
Al Jazeera correspondent Tharwat Shaqra, who was at the scene, said that Israeli military vehicles passed through the area, and after their passage, settlers headed towards the journalists and farmers, “as if it were a green light.” Independent Israeli journalist Oren Ziv noted that military jeeps made no attempt to stop the masked men.
The settlers then set fire to the olive trees and advanced towards the harvesters, prompting village youths to respond by throwing stones.
Footage subsequently documents the assault on Levine after she was knocked down. Her colleagues could only reach her after young Palestinians pushed the settlers back by throwing stones in their direction.
American journalist Jasper Nathaniel, who helped pull her away, wrote on X: “The only reason I was able to get to Heidi is because Palestinian youth provided cover with stones facing settlers and soldiers with machine guns and tear gas.” He added that the army pursued the young Palestinians after the attack, not the settlers.
During the same period, a video captured the sound of four gunshots followed by two more, which Tharwat Shaqra confirmed originated from the settlers.
Israeli forces only appeared to be deployed at the attack site in later footage, with their vehicles stationed in the settlers’ area. Soldiers then shot local council member Abdel Jaber Obeid and intercepted the ambulance before his transfer to hospital, as the army continued firing tear gas at the olive harvesters.
Conflicting Israeli claims
The timeline and geographical data contradict the official Israeli narratives.
The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office said that “the facts surrounding the confrontation near Abu Falah, during which Washington Post photojournalist Heidi Levine was allegedly assaulted, remain unclear and are under investigation”. It cited reports indicating “some 200 Arabs and far-left activists confronted approximately 40 Israeli youths”.
However, footage and testimonies show that the settlers gathered, descended, and burned trees before the youths responded, and the assault on Levine is documented on video.
Conversely, the army did not question the assault, acknowledging the injury of a foreign journalist. The Israeli military stated that forces were dispatched “following a report of a violent confrontation” and broke it up using “riot dispersal means”. It said soldiers “fired warning shots into the air and then fired toward a suspect who ran toward them, carrying a sharp object,” making no mention of the settlers or their gunfire.
The Israeli military’s international spokesperson Ariella Mazor told The Washington Post that soldiers in the area were trying to disperse a large, violent crowd and did not see the assault on Levine.
But evidence from videos and other testimony suggests that military vehicles in the area passed by the settlers without intervening and that Israeli forces eventually directed tear gas at Palestinians after the attack.
Widespread condemnation
The attack prompted widespread condemnation. United States Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee demanded that “those who attacked unarmed reporter should spend YRS in prison”.
He said that “attacking a female photographer is despicable act of terror carried out by masked cowards”.