NEW YORK, Sep 06 (APP):U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, a staunch and unwavering supporter of Israel, strongly condemned violent attacks by extremist Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank as "acts of terror" during a visit to the region, according to media reports. The diplomat labeled the violent actions and sieges against Palestinian homes as "terrorism" and "acts of terror", words that U.S. officials usually reserve for Palestinian …
In shift, pro-Israel US diplomat denounces West Bank settlers’ attacks as ‘terrorism’
NEW YORK, Sep 06 (APP):U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, a staunch and unwavering supporter of Israel, strongly condemned violent attacks by extremist Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank as “acts of terror” during a visit to the region, according to media reports.
The diplomat labeled the violent actions and sieges against Palestinian homes as “terrorism” and “acts of terror”, words that U.S. officials usually reserve for Palestinian activists.
Huckabee’s unprecedented condemnation of Israeli settler violence against Palestinians signals a shifting dynamic in the United States’ traditionally unconditional support for Israel, and as such drew significant pubic attention.
“If there are squatters that come in and put up their own flags and take possession of something that does not belong to them, if they burn a car, if they torch a mosque, if they go into someone’s home and vandalize it, paint graffiti on the walls, that’s a criminal act. But it extends beyond a criminal act. It’s an act of terror,” Huckabee said during his visit to the village of Turmus Ayya, which has reported frequent attacks by settlers over the past year.
Turmus Ayya is home to many Palestinian-American residents.
Huckabee stated that “crime is crime, terror is terror,” and called for “severe consequences” for the individuals responsible.
But he ambassador’s remarks left at least some Palestinian Americans at the meeting disappointed, according to a dispatch in The New York Times. They said that while he had listened and offered strong words, he was unable to promise concrete change.
“There’s a lot of pain, because I don’t know to whom we can turn at this point,” said Yasser Alqam, a U.S. citizen and local official who helped coordinate Huckabee’s arrival. “We pinned a lot of hopes on the ambassador’s visit. But he didn’t give us satisfactory answers.”
A spokesman for the Israeli prime minister’s office did not respond to a request for comment on Mr. Huckabee’s remarks, the Times said. Attacks by extremist Israeli settlers on Palestinians in the West Bank have surged over the past three years, alongside the Israeli campaign against Hamas in Gaza.
More than 1,000 Palestinians have been injured during settler attacks since the beginning of 2026, according to the United Nations. Groups of Israeli settlers — often protected by Israeli soldiers — have torched and vandalized buildings, as well as assaulted Palestinian residents.
As the occupying power, the Israeli military is responsible for upholding law and order in the territory.
Palestinians and Israeli rights groups also say Israeli troops frequently look the other way when settler attacks happen or at times participate in the assaults.
