Heidi Levine | |
|---|---|
 Injured by a stone during riots on the Temple Mount after Ramadan prayers on 25 February 1994. | |
| Born | 1962 or 1963 (age 63–64) Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Education | University of Massachusetts, Amherst |
| Occupation | Photojournalist |
Heidi Levine (born 1962 or 1963 [1] ) is an American freelance photojournalist who has worked for the Associated Press, Sipa Press, and The Washington Post . She has spent much of her career covering the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.
Levine was born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts. She is Jewish. Her father was passionate about photography, and bought Levine her first camera; they would walk around Boston taking pictures. Her first interest in the field was to photograph under-privileged areas of Boston and New York. At the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, she was the school paper photographer. In 1983 during a school break, at age 21, [2] she went to Israel to work for six weeks at a kibbutz. While there, she applied to the Associated Press and received a job offer. Figuring that working as a photojournalist would be educationally better than college journalism classes, she took the offer, [3] and in 1983 started her photojournalism career in Israel as a staffer. [4]
In 2013, Levine said that working at the Associated Press in Israel gave her experience in many facets of the field, including editing, lab activities, and interacting with subscribers. She faced difficulty with breaking into the field as a woman, describing it as a "boys club." [3] In 1991, she joined the Sipa Press Photo Agency. Based in Israel, most of her coverage has been focused on the violence in Israel, Gaza and the West Bank. [5] [6] She has covered conflicts in Afghanistan, Kosovo, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, [2] and Syria [2] on assignment. [7] She has also covered topics such as female feticide in India, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Syrian refugee crisis. [4]
In February 2022, she went to Ukraine on assignment for The Washington Post . [8] [9] While covering the Russian invasion of Ukraine, she photographed and commented on the aftermath of the Bucha massacre. She noted that "most of the images [she] took could never be published because they're too shocking." [10] [11]
Levine has covered the Gaza war. [12] [13] She has described covering the Israeli–Palestinian conflict as "very, very personal" [14] and intimate. [15]
Her pictures have been published in many outlets, including The Washington Post, The New York Times , Stern, National Geographic , Paris Match , L'Express , Newsweek , Time , The New York Times Magazine , The Sunday Times Magazine , Forbes , and The Globe and Mail . [4]
On October 16, 2026, Levine, along with several Palestinian olive farmers, was attacked by a group of Israeli settlers while reporting on the Palestinian olive harvest at Abu Falah in the occupied West Bank. [16] [17] [18] [19] The Washington Post, for which she was reporting, stated that she was wearing a vest identifying her as a member of the press, and was robbed of her phone and cameras. [20] [21] Levine was taken to a hospital in Ramallah with multiple lacerations, a broken rib, four broken vertebrae and a ripped finger. [21] [22] [1] According to witnesses, Israeli soldiers who arrived fired tear gas at the Palestinians and did not attempt to control the settlers. [21]
In a video statement made from the hospital, Levine said, "Today I was brutally attacked," adding, "We saw in the distance, in the hilltop, I would say at least 50 masked men, slingshots. And when they came running down, I was attacked, pushed to the ground," and "they just kept kicking me and kicking me." [20] According to colleague Jasper Nathaniel, Levine was provided cover by young Palestinian men who threw rocks at the attacking settlers, without whom "Heidi could be dead". [1] [23] Mike Huckabee, the US ambassador to Israel, described the attack as a "despicable act of terror" and called for the arrest and prosecution of those responsible. [24]
Several US lawmakers called for an investigation into the attack on Levine, including Jamie Raskin and Chris Coons. [25] A US State Department official condemned the violence, saying "We condemn criminal violence by any party in the West Bank and support appropriate investigations as well as legal accountability for those responsible." [26] U.S. Representative Rosa DeLauro also wrote on the social media platform X: “If the settlers will do this to an American journalist on camera, in broad daylight, imagine what Palestinian families face when no one is watching,” [27]
The office of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a statement saying it was unclear what happened, writing, "The facts surrounding the confrontation near Abu Falah, during which Washington Post photojournalist Heidi Levine was allegedly assaulted, remain unclear and are under investigation." [26] On October 18, Levine told the Associated Press that she was "shocked and insulted" by Netenyahu referring to the attack as "alleged", and added that he "had all the evidence on the table." [28]
On October 17, Israeli president Isaac Herzog phoned Levine to apologize for the attack by settlers and said that the "despicable behavior of these criminals does not represent the citizens and values of the State of Israel". [29]
The Committee to Protect Journalists wrote that the attack on Levine was "part of a disturbing pattern of violence and harassment against journalists regardless of their nationalities." [30]
She feels that the power of photography can make a difference by raising awareness and evoking empathy for those affected by conflicts and crises. [3] She has the "ability to capture the essence of conflicts and their impact on people's lives." [4] She has "depth of compassion for the people she encounters," [31] and "a passion for bearing witness." [7]
Levine has lived in Jerusalem [32] and Tel Aviv, [15] and has three children. In Jerusalem, she lived in a mixed neighborhood to expose her children to people of different backgrounds. [3] Levine says she has had to make compromises that would not allow her "to be the best photographer [she] wished to be." [33]