SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
We reached a Washington Post photojournalist today in a hospital. Her name is Heidi Levine. She was attacked and injured by Israeli settlers who were mounting an assault on Palestinians harvesting olives in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. The U.N. has documented nearly 200 settler attacks this year, and violence has surged around the olive harvest. We called Heidi Levine just after she had had X-rays taken and asked how she was doing.
HEIDI LEVINE: I'm OK. It's a bit challenging. I just got back three days ago from three-week trip covering the war in Ukraine. So I didn't think that coming back here where I'm based was going to end up this way today (ph).
DETROW: Yeah.
LEVINE: And honestly, I don't like the idea that I am a story. I wish that everyone was treating every case the same as they're treating me.
DETROW: Yeah. Well, maybe you can shift into reporter mode then and walk us through what happened today. Tell us what happened when you arrived at the olive grove to photograph things.
LEVINE: Right. Well, basically, because the settlers have been - become even more violent, journalists do not feel safe going out on their own, so numerous media organizations met so that we would be able to travel in a convoy. And everything in the beginning seemed OK, except we saw on the hill, across the horizon, a lot of settler youth. They were wearing masks. And then after a while, they started to actually burn trees. And then I heard some machine gunfire, and I could see Molotov cocktails being exploded. And then they started to charge.
DETROW: Was the Israeli - the presence of the military on site, and did they do anything to stop this attack?
LEVINE: No. My colleagues did see the military on the ground, and from what everyone has told me, they were on the side of the settlers and didn't do anything to stop them.
DETROW: OK. So at this point, they start to charge down the hill. What happened next?
LEVINE: I was on the ground. I had my helmet, my flak jacket also labeled with press signs on it, and they just jumped me, threw me to the ground. They started to kick me. This went on for over 10 minutes. Midway through, they forced me to - onto my feet and just to knock me down again. Then actually, the Palestinians actually started throwing rocks at them so that some of my colleagues could actually try to reach me and evacuate me from the scene.
DETROW: Now, you said you were wearing clothes that identified you as press.
LEVINE: Right.
DETROW: It seems, from the way you're describing it, like it wasn't incidental, that they may have even, you know, directed these attacks...
LEVINE: No, no, no, no, no.
DETROW: ...At you purposely.
LEVINE: They knew - I had cameras. They tore my cameras off me. They tore my pouch with my passport, my credit cards, everything basically. Also stole another camera bag with three lenses in it that I had on my shoulder.
DETROW: I want to read a statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to you and get your response. He posted this on X. He said that hundreds of Arabs and far-left activists confronted approximately 40...
LEVINE: No.
DETROW: ...Israeli youths. And then he goes on to say...
LEVINE: No.
DETROW: ...We will not allow disputed incidents to be exploited to demonize. How does that square with what you saw with your eyes?
LEVINE: Absolutely untrue, and it's really insulting. I mean, I've been covering this story for so long, and nothing is being done to stop it.
DETROW: Washington Post photojournalist Heidi Levine - that statement from the prime minister also said it, quote, "unequivocally condemns violence against anyone." Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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