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Netanyahu speaks of ‘smear campaign’ after settlers beat Washington Post photographer
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has portrayed reports that settlers beat American photographer Heidi Levine in the West Bank as part of a campaign against Israel. The newspaper insists she was “clearly beaten,” and police have detained 10 suspects.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has portrayed reports that settlers beat Washington Post photojournalist Heidi Levine as part of a campaign targeting Israel. In his most recent comments, he was quoted as saying: “I think this is a big exaggeration. We are facing a big propaganda campaign.”
On Oct. 17, his office voiced concern over “a coordinated campaign to smear Israel” and the settlers during the olive harvest, arguing that the coverage relied on “sensational headlines before the full facts emerge.”
A first statement about an “alleged” assault
In its first statement, issued on the day of the attack, the office referred to an “alleged” assault on Levine and said the facts “remain unclear and are under investigation,” adding that “the facts must determine the conclusions. Not the headlines.” It claimed the confrontation broke out when about 200 Arabs and far-left activists faced off with some 40 Israeli youths.
Speaking to i24NEWS, Netanyahu said such accounts “sometimes turn out to be inaccurate.” When the interviewer cited the video and the photographer’s testimony, he answered: “I don’t know. We’re checking it out.”
What happened in Abu Falah?
Levine, a 63-year-old U.S. citizen, was attacked on Oct. 16 near Abu Falah, northeast of Ramallah, while covering the Palestinian olive harvest, despite wearing a vest marked “Press.” Masked assailants knocked her down, kicked her repeatedly and seized her cameras and phone.
The assault left her with a broken rib, several fractured vertebrae and a deep cut to her finger that needed surgery on Oct. 17. Responding to Netanyahu’s suggestion that a settler had helped her, Levine called it “such a lie and the biggest insult” and urged him to “take another look at those videos.”
The newspaper’s reply and arrests before the vote
Washington Post executive editor Matt Murray answered Netanyahu’s office: “Some facts are neither in dispute nor unclear. Our photographer was clearly marked as Press. She was clearly beaten.”
Israeli police, joined by the military and the Shin Bet, detained 10 suspects before dawn on Monday in connection with the attack on Levine and an Oct. 17 assault on French, Belgian and Polish diplomats near Taybeh. U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee hailed the step as “a very positive development,” while Israeli President Isaac Herzog apologized to Levine by phone. The row comes days before Israel’s Oct. 27 election.
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