US wants Israel to 'crack down' on settler violence in West Bank, Rubio says

Washington: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio expressed concern over the violence perpetrated by Israeli settlers in the West Bank, urging Israel to take stronger action against such incidents. In a statement to reporters, Rubio said, "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."

The remarks followed the circulation of videos depicting a group of settlers attacking Heidi Levine, a Washington Post photojournalist, along with other Palestinians. Levine was among the injured in the Friday incident, which occurred when settlers targeted Palestinian civilians. European diplomats and a French mayor were also targeted in the violence, according to Belgium’s foreign minister.

The US State Department has inquired about the incident involving Levine’s attack, and Rubio anticipates receiving a response from the US Embassy in Jerusalem by Sunday. Over 170 attacks on Palestinians by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank have been recorded since September 27, the start of the olive harvest season, according to Yesh Din, an Israeli settlements monitoring group.