US ambassador to Israel calls for ‘severe consequences’ over settler violence in West Bank

The U.S. ambassador to Israel said Saturday that Israel bears responsibility for the security of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and called for ‘‘severe consequences’’ for violence against them, following a surge in settler attacks.

Mike Huckabee, a strong supporter of Israel and its settlers, visited the Palestinian-American community of Turmus Ayya, saying he wanted to hear residents’ ‘‘legitimate demands.’’

The ambassador spoke for two hours with several residents at the home of Samir Hazmeh, a Palestinian-American whose house has repeatedly been targeted. Hazmeh said settlers had twice broken his windows, tried to open his gates and set the house on fire. He installed barbed wire and raised an American flag in the hope of being protected.

‘‘One of the messages we have delivered and will continue to deliver is that the residents of these communities have the right to live in safety and that the government has the responsibility to ensure that this is the case,’’ Huckabee told reporters.

The Israeli army has occupied the West Bank since 1967, while longstanding violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians rarely results in prosecutions. Attacks have increased in recent months.

While refusing to criticize Israel or address its leaders directly, Huckabee called for strong measures, stressing that the violence was the work of a minority.

’‘Our message is clear, a crime is a crime, an act of terror is an act of terror. Those who commit them should expect severe consequences,’’ he said.

He said such measures would benefit Israel, which is facing growing criticism worldwide, including in the United States, its main ally, over the war in Gaza following Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack.

‘Vandals’

The settlers’ reputation ‘‘suffers’’ when they are associated with the image of a ‘‘small group of vandals,’’ Huckabee said.

’’There may be a few hundred people responsible, but that’s already a few hundred too many,’’ he said.

About 500,000 Israelis live in the West Bank, in settlements that the United Nations considers illegal under international law, alongside some 3 million Palestinians. Violence occurs almost daily, with settlers attacking Palestinians, their crops or livestock, or attempting to drive them from their land.

With the Oct. 27 elections approaching, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, which includes several far-right ministers and settlers, has approved the establishment of multiple settlements.

Huckabee had already spoken out in August to condemn violent settlers who surrounded homes in Qusra, near Nablus, trapping residents inside, including at least one Palestinian-American, and cutting them off from supplies.

Netanyahu later condemned ‘‘criminal acts of violence’’ committed by ‘‘a handful of rioters who break the law’’ and ‘‘harm Israel’s standing in the world,’’ marking a rare criticism of settlers.

Bible

Huckabee denied that Israel plans to drive Palestinians from Gaza after Israeli ministers called for the territory’s 2 million residents to be emptied and transferred abroad.

’’I can categorically assure you there is no Israeli plan to expel the population of Gaza against their will,’’ he said.

A former evangelical Christian pastor, Huckabee has repeatedly supported Israeli settlements and rejected the idea of a Palestinian state. He had also refused to use the term ‘‘Palestinian,’’ which he now uses.

However, he refers to the West Bank by the biblical terms ‘‘Judea-Samaria,’’ as Israel does.

’’If I use the terms Judea-Samaria, it’s because these are the ancient biblical names of this land. Eighty percent of the events described in the Bible happened at the time of Judea and Samaria. For me, West Bank is a vague term,’’ he said.