U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee attends a press convention after assembly residents of Turmus Ayya, a Palestinian city close to Ramallah within the Israeli-occupied West Financial institution that’s dwelling to many Americans on September 5, 2026.
| Photograph Credit score: Reuters
The U.S. Ambassador to Israel on Saturday (September 5, 2026) known as for “extreme penalties” to cease violence within the occupied West Financial institution as he met with Palestinians on Saturday (September 5), together with the households of U.S. residents killed by Israeli settlers, in a Palestinian city within the occupied West Financial institution that has been the goal of repeated settler attacks.
“Our clear message is that crime is crime, terror is terror. When individuals do it, they need to anticipate that they are going to have extreme penalties,” Mike Huckabee advised reporters as he visited the West Financial institution city of Turmus Ayya, which has a excessive variety of U.S. residents. Nevertheless, he declined to criticise Israel.
Settler violence in the West Bank has risen sharply since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition authorities, probably the most right-wing in Israel’s historical past, took workplace in late 2022.
A number of settlements have been established round Turmus Ayya, the Palestinian city close to Ramallah that Huckabee was visiting on Saturday. Its residents say that harassment by militant Israeli settlers is widespread and that they’re unable to cease them from coming into the city and damaging their properties.
“We’ve many points that we’ll tackle,” Nawwaf Zaghoul, the city’s mayor, advised reporters forward of the assembly, describing what he stated have been fixed assaults by settlers.
He stated that the city’s residents can be asking the Ambassador to assist safe their security and safety. About 80% of the city’s roughly 3,000 residents have been Palestinian Individuals, he stated.
Mr. Huckabee, a Baptist minister and longtime supporter of Israeli settlements, has known as for violent settlers to be prosecuted, whereas saying he believes their actions signify a minority of the broader settler neighborhood, which numbers round 750,000. Israeli settlers accused of finishing up assaults within the West Financial institution concentrating on Palestinians are hardly ever prosecuted.
“We are hoping that [the ambassador] will do one thing for us concerning these lawless settlers,” Turmus Ayya resident Sameer Hazama stated forward of the assembly with the ambassador.
Mr. Huckabee visited Taybeh, one of many solely Christian villages remaining within the West Financial institution, in June 2025 after a church there was vandalised. He stated on the time that the desecration of a spot of worship was an act of terror and against the law.
Mr. Netanyahu’s authorities has additionally overseen an enlargement of settlements throughout the West Financial institution, additional entrenching Israeli management over territory that Palestinians look for a future state.
Israeli settlements within the West Financial institution are unlawful underneath worldwide legislation, with the United Nations and most nations deeming the territory to be occupied. Israel’s authorities says that the land is disputed, not occupied.
Mr. Huckabee refers back to the West Financial institution by its biblical identify, Judea and Samaria, a time period utilized by the Israeli authorities however not adopted by the U.S. authorities. He has visited Shiloh, a settlement close to Turmus Ayya, a minimum of twice since 2025.
(With inputs from AFP and Reuters.)
Printed – September 05, 2026 03:43 pm IST
