Follow-Up: Rubio Urges Israel to Crack Down on West Bank Settler Violence, Says U.S. 'Very Disturbed' by Attack Footage
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Saturday, October 17, that the United States wants Israel to do more to deter attacks by settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank. Speaking to reporters before boarding a flight to Uzbekistan, Rubio said, according to Reuters: "We're very disturbed by those images and what we're seeing. We've asked the Israelis and continue to ask them to crack down on that stuff."
His comments came after video circulated widely showing an attack on Heidi Levine, an American photojournalist with The Washington Post. Levine was one of at least two people injured in Friday's incident, in which Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian civilians. Belgium's foreign minister said European diplomats and a French mayor were also attacked in the occupied West Bank.
Rubio said the State Department has inquired about the event that included Levine's attack, and that he expects to hear back from the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem by Sunday. According to Yesh Din, an Israeli settlements monitoring group, Israeli settlers in the West Bank have been involved in at least 170 attacks on Palestinians since September 27, around the start of the annual olive harvest.
GSM reported the West Bank settler attack itself earlier today; Rubio's remarks are the most senior public U.S. response so far to this round of violence.
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 资料图：国务卿 Marco Rubio 在雅典发表公开讲话，背景为雅典卫城。美国国务院官方照片，公共领域。File photo: Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaking in Athens, with the Acropolis in the background. U.S. Department of State photo, public domain.
- 2026-10-17Settlers Burn Olive Trees, Injure Washington Post Photojournalist in West Bank Harvest Attack
- 2026-10-17Follow-Up: Rubio Urges Israel to Crack Down on West Bank Settler Violence, Says U.S. 'Very Disturbed' by Attack FootageThis story
