Al Jazeera investigation challenges Israeli account of Heidi Levine attack

An Al Jazeera investigation has challenged official Israeli narratives regarding an attack by settlers on Palestinian olive harvesters and an American photojournalist on Friday in Khirbet Abu Falah, northeast of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.The investigation by Al Jazeera’s Data Journalism Unit used open-source verification and analysis of visual and geographic evidence.Official Israeli accounts of what happened differ: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has questioned whether Israeli settlers were to blame at all, while the Israeli army has suggested that the military was engaged in addressing a confrontation between Palestinians and settlers at the time.But verified footage and mapped coordinates reveal a coordinated attack by masked settlers, with Israeli military vehicles passing by shortly before the incident, without intervening.The October 16 pogrom left veteran Washington Post photojournalist Heidi Levine, 63, with a broken rib, four fractured vertebrae, and wounds requiring hand surgery, despite wearing a clearly marked press vest.To establish the facts, the Data Journalism Unit monitored and analysed more than 20 videos and photos taken by journalists and wi...