U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee broke his silence this weekend on an American journalist who was “severely” beaten by Israeli settlers, and quickly drew scorn for what he said.
On Friday, The Washington Post’s Heidi Levine was attacked by Israeli settlers despite “wearing a protective vest clearly marked PRESS on front and back,” the Post reported. She was “kicked repeatedly” after being knocked to the ground and “stripped of her cameras and phone.”
Outrage soon poured in as Huckabee remained silent on the matter until the next day, when he released a statement.
“Heidi Levine, photojournalist for [The Washington Post], suffered serious injuries from vicious & cowardly attack. Heidi is US Citizen, clear ID as journalist. Details of who under investigation, but those who attacked unarmed reporter should spend YRS in prison,” Huckabee wrote.
“We have called for a full investigation, arrest, and prosecution to the fullest extent of the law to whoever participated in this. Attacking a female photographer is despicable act of terror carried out by masked cowards. Dishonorable act of senseless violence.”
Despite the encounter being captured on video, Huckabee did not identify the assailants as Israeli settlers, which multipleoutlets had already confirmed. More than 700,000 Israeli settlers live in settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, which are considered illegal under international law, with Israeli settler violence reaching record-high levels in recent months.
“[Thirty-six] hours later and no mention of the illegal Israeli settlers we all saw on camera attacking her. No mention of Israel whatsoever. Pathetic stuff here,” wrote journalist and former MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan.
Independent journalist Jasper Nathaniel, who extensively reports on Israeli settler violence, sarcastically jabbed at Huckabee’s omission of the incident’s assailants.
“Dang it the unknowable masked bandits of the West Bank strike again,” Nathaniel wrote in a social media post on X.
Others, like the independent news outlet Drop Site News, condemned Huckabee for his past rhetoric, which it alleged helped fuel such attacks.
“[Levine] was left with a broken rib, four broken vertebrae and a finger ripped open to the bone, the Post said. Israeli military jeeps drove through while the attack continued, and soldiers fired tear gas at Palestinians, witnesses said. No arrests have been reported,” reads a statement from the outlet.
“Huckabee has spent his career erasing the people Israeli settlers target. He rejects the term ‘West Bank’ in favor of ‘Judea and Samaria,’ and said in 2008 that ‘there's really no such thing as a Palestinian.’”
“Those who attacked”Who are they?
— Assal Rad (@AssalRad) October 17, 2026