LONDON: The Committee to Protect Journalists is demanding a criminal investigation into a violent attack on American photographer Heidi Levine in the West Bank last week.

Levine, 65, on assignment for The Washington Post, was taken to hospital with broken vertebrae after she was attacked by Israeli settlers as she covered the Palestinians’ annual harvest of olives on Oct. 16. The harvest has been repeatedly disrupted by Israeli settlers. 

She has said the attackers — armed with bottles and slingshots — “were kicking me for, like, 10 minutes and I was trying to hold on to my cameras and my bag.” 

Levine was wearing a helmet and protective vest at the time of the attack.

The CPJ said it wrote to Yechiel Leiter, Israel’s ambassador to the US, on Oct. 17 and highlighted the Israeli government’s “obligation to swiftly, thoroughly, and impartially investigate all attacks against journalists, including identifying perpetrators and holding them fully accountable under criminal law.” 

Such investigations should examine the actions of Israeli military or police personnel, including any failure to intervene or to protect journalists, the CPJ said.

US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, whose recent comments have condemned settler attacks on US citizens, called the attack on Levine a “despicable act of terror carried out by masked cowards” and said those responsible should spend years in prison.

The letter sent by the CPJ said the brutal assault on Levine fits a broader pattern of violence against journalists in the West Bank and called on the Israeli government to commit to a clear timeline for investigations.

It urged the government to issue public updates on the progress of the investigations and to stop downplaying such assaults.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted on Friday that Palestinians or “far-left” activists may have been responsible for the violent assault.