Palestinian Journalists Forum: The brutal attack suffered by photojournalist Heidi Levine, affiliated with The Washington Post

Palestinian Journalists Forum:

▪The brutal attack suffered by photojournalist Heidi Levine, affiliated with The Washington Post, at the hands of settler mobs and under the protection of Israeli occupation forces, in the village of Abu Falah east of Ramallah in the West Bank, which, according to the newspaper, resulted in her suffering fractures, after she was thrown to the ground and kicked, despite wearing a vest clearly bearing the press insignia.

▪The occupation and its terrorist settler mobs targeting journalists, including foreigners, and attacking them while carrying out their professional duties, constitutes a violation of press freedom and an assault on journalists' right to convey the truth and document events without threat or intimidation.

▪We stress the need to provide protection for journalists, hold accountable those responsible for this attack and other ongoing attacks against journalists, and ensure that attackers do not escape accountability. We call on international media and human rights institutions to condemn these practices and to take effective action to protect Palestinian and foreign journalists in the occupied Palestinian territories.

▪This terrorist conduct by settler mobs in the West Bank against Palestinian and foreign journalists alike is an extension of and complementary to the official Israeli decision to ban the entry of foreign press into the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the genocide, in an attempt to prevent exposing its chapters and conveying Gaza's suffering and the occupation's ongoing crimes against civilians there.

▪We express our full solidarity with colleague Heidi Levine, wishing her a speedy recovery and safety, and we affirm that the attacks will not deter journalists from continuing their professional mission of conveying the truth and exposing violations.