Israeli settlers attack Palestinians, American journalist during West Bank olive harvest

Israeli settlers attack Palestinians, American journalist during West Bank olive harvest

Israeli army says incident in Abu Falah 'will be examined'

Dozens of masked Israeli settlers have attacked Palestinians and injured an American journalist during olive harvesting in the occupied West Bank, according to witnesses and video footage from the incident.

About 80 settlers descended from a hill toward Palestinians who were collecting olives on Friday in Abu Falah, a Palestinian village about 25 kilometres northeast of Ramallah, Reuters reported.

Videos from the scene showed some of the settlers using slingshots to launch stones toward the Palestinians. Photos also showed olive trees burning next to a large group of settlers.

Reuters said at least two Israeli military jeeps sped through the area partway through the attack, which continued after the army's arrival.

Israeli soldiers also fired tear gas ⁠in the direction of Palestinians who had dodged the jeeps, the news agency added. Some Palestinians threw stones to defend themselves during the attack.

An Israeli settler casts a projectile toward Palestinians in Abu Falah. (Ammar Awad/Reuters)

Caught up in the attack was Washington Post photojournalist Heidi Levine, who was reporting in the village when Israeli settlers assaulted her, the U.S. newspaper said. The Post reported she was knocked to the ground, repeatedly kicked and stripped of her cameras and phone.

Video footage showed Levine — who was wearing a helmet and vest marked "press" — lying on her side on a dirt path, with her hands over her face as at least three settlers surrounded her.

"She was wearing visible markings clearly identifying her as a journalist," Matt Murray, the Post's executive director, said in a written statement Friday morning.

"While we are relieved that Heidi has received medical care and is safe, we are outraged by this unwarranted attack on a journalist doing her job and urge a thorough investigation and follow-through from authorities."

Speaking to reporters from a Ramallah hospital bed, a visibly shaken Levine said she was "brutally attacked."

"I was attacked, pushed to the ground. Luckily I had my flak jacket and my helmet, otherwise I probably wouldn't even be ‌here, because they just kept kicking me and kicking me," she said.

Washington Post photojournalist Heidi Levine says Israeli settlers 'kept kicking and kicking' her during the attack in Abu Falah. (Ali Sawafta/Reuters)

'Incident will be examined,' Israeli army says

The Israeli military said in a written statement on social media that troops and Israel Border Police were dispatched to an area near Abu Falah "following a report of a violent confrontation."

"All details of the incident will be examined. Upon arriving to the scene, the forces acted to disperse the confrontation using riot dispersal means," the army said.

It also said that at another location where confrontations were taking place, soldiers fired "toward a suspect who ran toward them, carrying a sharp object and posed a threat to them." The statement didn't provide additional information about that suspect.

"Violence against innocent civilians is a grave and intolerable phenomenon that requires a co-ordinated, multi-agency response," it said, adding that it would work "to eradicate this phenomenon."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said the incident was under investigation and that "those responsible will be held accountable." It also stressed that the investigation "must establish the facts, including who initiated the violence."

The Foreign Press Association, which represents international media working in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, condemned the incident as "the latest in a long line of violent attacks by Israeli settlers against journalists and other civilians" in the West Bank.

"Yet our repeated calls for action to confront this lawlessness have been ignored by Israeli authorities," it said.

Palestinians and an Israeli military vehicle are seen near a fire in the West Bank village of Abu Falah on Friday. (Ammar Awad/Reuters)

Friday's incident comes amid escalating Israeli settler violence against Palestinians across the West Bank.

Earlier this week, the United Nations humanitarian office (OCHA) said nearly 200 settler attacks linked to this year's olive harvest — an annual event that holds historical and cultural significance for Palestinians — have led to casualties or property damage so far.

"That is more than the 185 incidents recorded during the entire 2025 season," it said.

Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories are illegal under international law, which states that an occupying power cannot transfer its civilian population into the territory that it occupies.

Palestinians walk in Abu Falah after the olive harvest was disrupted by an Israeli settler attack on Friday. (Ammar Awad/Reuters)

Israel rejects that, calling the areas "disputed," and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government has overseen a rapid expansion of the settlements.

In late September, Netanyahu condemned "violent riots" by settlers after a wave of attacks on Palestinians in the village of Qusra. "The handful of rioters are not representative of the law-abiding settler public," he said in a written statement.

Human rights groups have accused the Israeli government of facilitating settler violence as part of an effort to displace Palestinians.

Jillian Kestler-D'Amours is a senior writer at CBC based in Montreal. You can reach her at jillian.kestler-d.amours@cbc.ca.