U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee warned Israeli settlers in the West Bank on Aug. 20 not to take property owned by Palestinians after they attacked multiple houses, including the home of a Palestinian American, earlier this month.
Huckabee told Reuters in an interview that the recent actions of some Israeli settlers in the West Bank were a “violation of God’s law.”
Israeli settlements in the area have been a key source of tension between Israelis and Palestinians since Israel’s capture of the West Bank during the Six-Day War in 1967.
The settlers, who surrounded the homes of Palestinian American Loui Ridi and his brothers in the West Bank village of Qusra last week, according to local officials, could face U.S. sanctions, Huckabee told Reuters.
The settlers tried to destroy a stone wall, threw stones, and prevented the residents from leaving as they ran low on water and food.
During the Aug. 20 interview with Reuters, Huckabee cited the Ten Commandments, saying, “Thou shalt not steal.”
He said that if people do not own something, they should not take it or covet what others have.
“If someone owns the land and they own their house, then having someone come and take it over and scare the family away from it, that’s a violation, not just of man’s law. That’s a violation of God’s law,” he said.
In response to the actions of Israeli settlers in Qusra, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) detained one Israeli and deployed troops to the area.
The IDF said the troops dismantled two “illegal outposts” in the area and would carry out patrols and defensive missions.
Tens of thousands of Palestinian Americans are estimated to be living in the West Bank, with many of them located in the villages between Ramallah and Nablus, including Qusra.
Asked what the Trump administration’s message was for Israeli settlers who might try to take houses and land owned by Palestinian Americans in the West Bank, Huckabee said: “I think the message is bigger than just even the Trump administration. It’s a message of basic civility and civilized behavior.”
“You don’t take something that doesn’t belong to you,” he said.
Ridi told Reuters on Aug. 20 that he was still being harassed by Israeli settlers near his property in Qusra following last week’s incidents.
He also confirmed that he was in contact with Huckabee’s staff at the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not publicly commented on the violence in Qusra.
While Huckabee has supported Israeli settlements in the West Bank, he condemned the actions of the Israeli settlers targeting Ridi and other residents in the Qusra area last week.
He described the Israeli settlers responsible for the recent attacks as “Israeli terrorists” and labeled their actions as “thuggish behavior” and a “horrific act of terror,” in a statement on social media.
Huckabee said on Thursday that the United States was “appalled” by what happened to some of the Palestinian families in the area and suggested that the settlers responsible for the violence should face significant consequences.
The ambassador said the Palestinian families were victims of “inexcusable and repugnant” criminal activity.
Despite the recent actions by Israeli settlers, Huckabee told Reuters that the overwhelming majority of the roughly 500,000 Israelis who live in the area just wanted to raise their families in peace and security.
“The best estimates of the number of people who engage in these criminal acts are somewhere between [300] to 500 total,” he said. “So that’s a tiny number of the amount of people. I don’t call them settlers; they’re unsettlers.”
Palestinian supporters have consistently objected to Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
The United Nations has previously said the Israeli settlements had “no legal validity,” represented a “flagrant violation” of international law, and presented a major obstacle to Palestinians and Israelis peacefully coexisting.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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