US ambassador says Israeli settler violence in West Bank amounts to ‘terrorism’
“Let’s just be blunt, that’s what it is: Israelis can carry out terrorism as well,” said US Ambassador Mike Huckabee on the surge in Israeli settler violence in the occupied West Bank.
Speaking to NewsNation’s Elizabeth Vargas, Huckabee, himself a staunch supporter of illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank, acknowledged there has been an “escalation” of settler violence, but claimed it is being perpetrated by a “very small number” of people, most of whom don’t live in the area.
“It is a very tense time. We don’t want to pretend that it isn’t,” he said, adding that the Israeli government should harshly punish the violence.
The Palestinian Authority’s Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission says Israeli forces and settlers carried out 2,350 attacks across the West Bank in October in an “ongoing cycle of terror”, which has been taking place in the shadow of the war in Gaza.
Very small number, over 260 attacks by Settlers in one month... Don't live in the area? None of them should live in the area, they're all illegal settlers. Classic deflection, it's just a few bad apples.
US Democratic lawmakers urge Trump to act on West Bank settler violence
Senator Cory Booker and Representative Dan Goldman have called on President Donald Trump to pressure Israel to prevent settler violence in the occupied West Bank and hold perpetrators accountable.
In a letter sent last night, the Democratic lawmakers said such violence occurs “on a near daily basis” yet perpetrators are rarely held accountable.
“This vigilante violence is not isolated. It is systemic and aims to impede a viable two-state solution,” the letter said.
The UN said more “settler attacks were recorded in October than in any month since 2006 – over 260 attacks”. The lawmakers urged the US administration to reinstate sanctions against settlers if Israel fails to act.
Booker, a Democratic senator from New Jersey who is a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, co-signed the appeal with Goldman, a New York congressman.
The letter cited Israeli military data showing a surge in settler attacks this year, including the July killing of Palestinian-American Sayfollah Musallet by settlers previously sanctioned under the Biden administration.
