Washington Post reporter Heidi Levine traveled to the occupied West Bank to document Palestinians harvesting olives. On Friday, Israeli settlers brutally attacked her, leaving her traumatized and hospitalized.

Despite carrying gear visibly identifying her as a photographer and wearing a protective vest clearly marked “PRESS,” she was surrounded by settlers who shoved her to the ground and relentlessly assaulted her.

According to reports, she suffered four broken vertebrae, a broken rib, severe lacerations across her body, and a finger that was severely split open.

Heidi Levine deserves justice, victims of settler violence deserve accountability, and the evidence warrants action.

In her words: “Luckily I had my flak jacket and helmet, otherwise I probably wouldn’t even be here, because they just kept kicking me and kicking me.”

This assault deserves an investigation and swift prosecution of those responsible.

It also calls on Americans to examine the deeper story she was covering.

If attackers are violently assaulting a photojournalist working for a globally influential publication, what protection can Palestinian farmers expect—especially when the cameras leave?

That question connects olive groves in the occupied West Bank to legislation in the US Senate led by Democratic Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen along with Sens. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).

Senate Resolution 852 would require the State Department to provide information and assessments concerning investigations into the killings of Americans by Israeli forces or violent settlers, as well as other human rights abuses in the occupied West Bank.

Last month, although a historic 47 senators voted, largely along party lines, to move the measure forward, the Senate ultimately failed to discharge the resolution from the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee.

The assault on Levine is a wake-up call for the senate to reconsider.

This type of targeted violence extends beyond farmers gathering the harvest.

On October 12, at the beginning of this year’s harvest, Israeli forces uprooted and bulldozed 400 olive trees in Beit Rima, northwest of Ramallah, to make way for a new settlement outpost.

This is far from an isolated incident. So far this year alone, Israeli forces and settlers have uprooted and destroyed around 50,000 olive trees.

For a Palestinian family, olive groves equal years of labor. A family tending........

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