00:01A sharp warning from Washington to Israel as U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee
00:08says the Israeli government has a responsibility to protect Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
00:14Huckabee is calling for what he describes as severe consequences against those responsible for violent attacks on Palestinian communities.
00:23The warning came during a visit to Termas Aya, a West Bank town that has faced repeated attacks by Israeli
00:31settlers.
00:32Huckabee met Palestinian American families and said he wanted to hear their legitimate grievances.
00:39And as the ambassador visited the community, a settler from a nearby outpost approached the area on a quad bike.
00:46Huckabee stopped short of directly condemning the Israeli government, but his message was unmistakable.
00:53He said people living in these communities have a right to security and safety and that the Israeli government has
01:00a responsibility to ensure it.
01:02He also drew a hard line between legitimate settlement activity and criminal violence.
01:08And he warned that those carrying out attacks should expect severe consequences.
01:13The remarks are significant because Huckabee has long been one of Israel's strongest supporters.
01:19He has also been closely associated with support for Israeli settlers.
01:24For Palestinian American families in Termas Aya, however, the issue is not about Israel's international image.
01:31They say it is about their homes, their land, and whether they can safely remain in the communities where they
01:38live.
01:38Around 80% of Termas Aya's roughly 4,000 residents hold American citizenship.
01:45Samir Hazma, who hosted Huckabee, says settlers have smashed the windows of his home twice.
01:52He also says settlers attempted to open the gates and set the house on fire.
01:57That's one thing that I believe is going to be our clear message.
02:00Frankly, it has already been our clear message, is that crime is crime, terror is terror.
02:06When people do it, they should have an expectation that they will have severe consequences for doing it.
02:13Hazma has responded by installing barbed wire around the property, and he has placed an American flag outside, hoping his
02:21U.S. citizenship will provide some protection.
02:24Al Qom says Washington already has the leverage to pressure Israel to arrest settlers who are known to authorities.
02:32His appeal comes as the Biden administration's previous sanctions against some settler extremists remain a political flashpoint.
02:40The broader backdrop is an increasingly tense West Bank.
02:45Israel has occupied the territory since 1967.
02:49More than 500,000 Israelis now live in the West Bank, alongside around 3 million Palestinians.
02:56At the same time, Netanyahu's government has been moving ahead with approval of additional settlements in the West Bank.
03:03Those settlements are considered illegal under international law by most of the international community.
03:10And far-right figures inside Netanyahu's governing coalition have openly discussed removing Palestinians from parts of the territory.
03:19That makes Huckabee's warning especially sensitive.
03:21He says Israel should understand that action against violent settlers is in its own interest.
03:28He warned that Israel's global reputation suffers when a small group of violent settlers appears to represent the wider Israeli
03:36population.
03:38Huckabee also pushed back against claims that Israel intends to forcibly remove Palestinians from Gaza.
03:44His comments follow statements from Israeli ministers about plans involving the roughly 2 million Palestinians living in the territory.
03:53But it was his comments on settler violence that drew particular attention during the West Bank visit.
03:59The U.S. ambassador even evoked the Bible while discussing the attacks.
04:04Huckabee, an evangelical Christian pastor and former governor of Arkansas, has long cited his faith as a foundation for his
04:12support of Israel.
04:13The confrontation over settler violence is now becoming another test of the U.S.-Israel relationship.
04:20Huckabee has repeatedly defended Israel, yet he is now publicly emphasizing that Israel must protect Palestinian communities, including American citizens
04:30living in the West Bank.
04:31And this is not the first time he has intervened.
04:34Last month, Huckabee stepped in after settler extremists reportedly camped outside the home of another Palestinian American in Kusra and
04:44blocked basic supplies from reaching him.
04:46That episode prompted a rare condemnation of settlers from Netanyahu.
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