Photo via aljazeera.com
Rubio demands crackdown on settler violence after dual attacks
US Secretary of State pressed Israel to deter attacks that injured a Washington Post photographer and European diplomats in the West Bank.
What happened
Israeli settlers attacked Palestinians and international figures twice in two days, triggering an unusually forceful American response. On Friday, October 16, masked settlers brutally attacked Washington Post photojournalist Heidi Levine while she documented Palestinian olive harvesting in Abu Falah, beating her severely enough to break vertebrae. The next day, settlers attacked a convoy of European diplomats visiting Taybeh, beating a 78-year-old French mayor and damaging a Belgian vehicle.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the Trump administration was "very disturbed" by the violence and called for Israel to "crack down" on settler attacks. Ambassador Mike Huckabee labeled the assault on Levine a "despicable act of terror," demanding arrests and prosecutions. These were notably strong statements from the Trump team, which has generally avoided pressure on Israeli settlement policy.
The timing raised questions about Israeli preparedness and intent. A Haaretz report indicated that an IDF operations room received distress calls and video evidence of armed settlers as early as 1 p.m. on Saturday, but troops and the Civil Administration were not informed until around 3 p.m.—after the attack on diplomats had ended. The military opened an investigation into the delayed response.
The incidents bookended a violent olive harvest season. Since late September, Israeli settlement monitoring group Yesh Din documented at least 170 settler attacks on Palestinians. Israeli President Isaac Herzog apologized to Levine and condemned the "outrageous and shocking" violence, while Netanyahu's office suggested the incidents were being used as part of a "coordinated smear campaign" against settlers, urging caution before drawing conclusions—a position that drew criticism even from other Israeli officials.
Chanakya's Move
The dual attacks expose a strategic gap in Israel's settler management. With elections less than two weeks away (October 27), Netanyahu's administration faces competing pressures: settling or enabling settler violence strengthens his right-wing coalition, but international backlash—especially from a US administration otherwise aligned with him—risks isolation and potential aid conditions. The IDF's two-hour delay in responding to distress calls suggests either institutional paralysis or deliberate inaction. Netanyahu's "smear campaign" framing is a gamble: it tries to minimize international credibility without changing facts on the ground, but it opened him to rare public contradictions from his own foreign minister and the IDF. Rubio's forceful language signals the Trump administration may be willing to use quiet leverage (embassy pressure, behind-the-scenes conditions) without public sanctions. The key strategic move is whether Rubio's demand translates into actual enforcement mechanisms—specific benchmarks, documentation, consequences—or remains rhetorical cover. Settlers are testing whether Trump's general pro-settlement stance overrides specific incidents; Europe is signaling it may act unilaterally if Israel doesn't.