Bad humans

 

A Washington Post reporter who was watching Israeli settlers knock down Palestinians harvesting olives was herself knocked down and beaten today. 

“They just kept kicking me and kicking me,” photojournalist Heidi Levine recalled from a hospital bed after the attack. 

Dozens of masked Israelis, clad in black and armed with slings, clubs and gas canisters, attacked Palestinians harvesting olives in the Palestinian West Bank village of Abu Falah on Friday.

The mob then set fire to the grove, aided by Israeli soldiers in military jeeps who fired tear gas at the Palestinians, witnesses told Reuters.

Medics told Reuters two people were injured in the attack. One of them was Washington Post photojournalist Heidi Levine, who was clearly identified as a member of the press.

Video of the attack’s aftermath captured by American journalist Jasper Nathaniel shows Levine, wearing a helmet and a flak jacket reading “PRESS,” slumped over in the road after the attack.

“They clubbed her, kicked her. Pulled her off the ground to beat her more. Robbed her of her equipment. If she didn’t have a helmet — and if she was Palestinian — she could be dead,” Nathaniel said.

Netanyahu went into his typical Trumpian doublespeak when describing the incident.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed in a statement that the “approximately 40 Israeli youths” hadn’t attacked anyone but were instead attacked themselves by “some 200 Arabs and far-left activists.”

Netanyahu further claimed that Levine had been “knocked down and immediately helped to her feet by the same unidentified individual,” contradicting the journalist’s own recollection of the attack.

“We will not allow disputed incidents to be exploited to demonize the hundreds of thousands of law-abiding Jewish residents,” he said.

Doesn't sound like a disputed incident to me, Bibi. It sounds like more and more of what we have been hearing from your side. You have to stop making excuses for the settler's actions and the demonization of the Palestinian villagers and protect these people. And stop stealing their land.

Israel imposed new rules on the olive harvest this year, barring Palestinians from harvesting their trees located in Area C, an area under the Israeli military’s control, which comprises most of the West Bank’s agricultural land.

The new orders prohibit Palestinians from entering about 8,800 hectares (21,800 acres) of agricultural land – a 30% increase from the year prior – without the approval of the Israeli military. By contrast, the military gave Israeli citizens access to more land this year.

Obviously Jews can be every bit as bad as any other human. I have less and less affinity for Israel every day and the settlers' behavior makes me downright sick. wasn't it nice that the guy who knocked her down helped her back up?