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JERUSALEM \u2014<\/p>\nUS ambassador calls violent Israeli settlers \u2018terrorists\u2019 after weeks of unrest in West Bank<\/p>\n
JERUSALEM \u2014<\/p>\n
The United States ambassador to Israel condemned Israeli settler violence in the occupied West Bank again Saturday, calling the behavior an “act of terror” as he visited with Palestinian American residents shaken by months of attacks.<\/p>\n
Related video above: Trump announces deal for Hamas to disarm and Israeli forces to withdraw from Gaza<\/p>\n
Ambassador Mike Huckabee referred to such settlers as \u201cterrorists,\u201d a word that U.S. officials usually reserve for Palestinian militants.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf 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\u2019s home and vandalize it, paint graffiti on the walls, that\u2019s a criminal act. But it extends beyond a criminal act. It\u2019s an act of terror,\u201d Huckabee said during his visit to the village of Turmus Ayya, which has reported frequent attacks by settlers over the past year.<\/p>\n
Such attacks have surged since the war in Gaza began with the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, according to the United Nations humanitarian office.<\/p>\n
Huckabee also used the term \u201cterrorists\u201d last month after weeks of unrest in the West Bank town of Qusra, where settlers surrounded several homes, including one owned by a Palestinian American. Days later, residents of the West Bank village of Bazariya said settlers burned a mosque and left a message on a wall in graffiti reading “Huckabee regards from the terrorists” in Hebrew.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m glad they admitted it,\u201d the ambassador said Saturday of the incident, adding, \u201cI don\u2019t think that\u2019s what they intended to do, but I do think that they represent a very tiny minority.\u201d<\/p>\n
A week ago, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the actions of a \u201chandful of rioters,\u201d and the foreign ministry called the settlers\u2019 actions \u201ca disgrace.\u201d<\/p>\n
Netanyahu\u2019s government is the most ultranationalist and religious in Israel\u2019s history. It has presided over a surge of settlement construction in the West Bank. Most of the international community views settlements as illegal.<\/p>\n
On Saturday’s visit to Turmus Ayya, the ambassador began his remarks by making clear he was addressing U.S. citizens, who make up a small percentage of the roughly 3 million Palestinians in the West Bank.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m very aware that a lot of the American people who live in Turmus Ayya and other communities across this region are not enjoying the life they deserve to live, not enjoying it in a peaceful way,\u201d Huckabee said. \u201cIt\u2019s a life that is disturbed by people who have created extraordinary challenges that are unfair and illegal.\u201d<\/p>\n
The U.S. Embassy cannot investigate criminal activity, he said, but it can tell its host government \u201cthere are needs that need to be addressed, there are issues that cannot go unnoticed, and specific crimes and acts of terror that cannot continue without that country doing the investigation and adjudication that every person has a right to expect.\u201d<\/p>\n
Huckabee met with about 10 Palestinian American residents who described the impact of the violence on their lives and properties, the municipality told The Associated Press.<\/p>\n
Israel captured the West Bank, along with Gaza and east Jerusalem, in the 1967 Mideast war, territories the Palestinians want for a future state. The U.N. and much of the international community consider them to be illegally occupied.<\/p>\n
Since then, the Israeli government has built nearly 150 settlements that are home to well over 500,000 Jewish settlers. Many settlements resemble developed suburbs.<\/p>\n
Israel\u2019s military operates in all parts of the West Bank, but rights groups have said the military frequently turns a blind eye to settler violence. The settlers are Israeli citizens, and Israel\u2019s defense minister recently announced plans to fully transfer law enforcement among settlers to the Israeli police.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"US ambassador calls violent Israeli settlers \u2018terrorists\u2019 after weeks of unrest in West Bank JERUSALEM \u2014 The United…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":279396,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[33],"tags":[7831,76138,41,76117,496,42139,1411,37,49,4512,12760,179,13073,50904,7888,41972,49273,5306,3862,34425,2554,1243,36,6905],"class_list":["post-279395","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-ambassador","tag-bazariya","tag-benjamin-netanyahu","tag-football-rule-change","tag-gaza","tag-graffiti","tag-hamas","tag-israel","tag-middle-east","tag-mideast","tag-mike-huckabee","tag-military","tag-mosque","tag-ncaa","tag-palestinian","tag-qusra","tag-settler","tag-sknd","tag-terrorist","tag-turmus-ayya","tag-un","tag-united-nations","tag-war","tag-west-bank"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/117219675792046118","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279395","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=279395"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279395\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/279396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=279395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=279395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=279395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}