Four Israelis placed under house arrest in Washington Post photographer assault case

Four Israelis accused of attacking Washington Post American photojournalist Heidi Levine while she filmed the olive harvest in the West Bank were released under house arrest. The court released nine of the 10 suspects linked to two separate attacks under judicial supervision.

Scraper SystemOctober 22, 2026, 08:41 PM

Four Israelis placed under house arrest in Washington Post photographer assault case

An Israeli court released four Israelis accused of attacking Heidi Levine, an American photojournalist working for The Washington Post, in the occupied West Bank under house arrest. The court rejected a police request to extend the detention of the 10 suspects detained in connection with two separate attacks targeting Levine and European diplomats, ordering nine of them released under judicial supervision.

Attacked with sticks

Levine, 64, was attacked by masked settlers on Oct. 16 while filming Palestinians harvesting olives in the village of Abu Falah, north of Ramallah. Levine said the attackers knocked her to the ground and struck her repeatedly with wooden sticks. The attack left Levine with four fractured vertebrae, two broken ribs and four puncture wounds on her body.

İsrail'in Batı Şeria'daki ayrım duvarı (arşiv)

Witnesses said Palestinian youths drove the attackers back, allowing American journalist Jasper Nathaniel and other reporters to reach Levine and take her to safety. Israeli President Isaac Herzog called Levine by phone and apologized. The Prime Minister's Office said the details of the incident had not yet been clarified and that the investigation was continuing.

Diplomats' vehicles also targeted

The court's decision also covers a second attack that took place in Tayibe the following day. On Oct. 17, the vehicles of French, Belgian and Polish diplomats traveling to Tayibe to participate in the olive harvest were stopped by a masked and armed group, and the windows of one vehicle were smashed. A suspect accused in the attack was barred from entering Tayibe for 180 days and other Palestinian villages in the West Bank for 30 days. The detention of one of the suspects, Nadav Cohen Tzemah, was extended.

Source: Anadolu Ajansı

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