US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee on Saturday visited the Palestinian Authority city Turmusayya, located near Ramallah, meeting Americans in the area.
During his visit, Huckabee heard the Americans' stories, and filmed, using his cellphone, Jewish settlers who neared the area where one of the homes bore an American flag.
Sources who attended the event told Channel 12 News that Huckabee promised to personally send the footage to US President Donald Trump so that he could see for himself the settlers' attempts to "disrupt" his visit.
Following the visit, Huckabee wrote on X, "Visited Americans in Turmusayya in constructive town hall to hear disturbing stories of criminal & terrorist actions by band of trespassers who brazenly roam through property of lawful property owners like these guys. Disgraceful acts that don't reflect 99% of Israelis."
"US Citizens in Turmusayya shared personal stories of homes vandalized, children threatened, & violence/intimidation during my town hall today. I support Israelis living in Judea/Samaria where they have right to be, but NO student of Bible supports lawlessness."
He added that a "large press group turned out to cover my trip to Turmusayya today to meet Americans living there. Decent law-abiding Israelis living in Judea/Samaria are also disgusted by behavior of the few who violate civil law & Torah by violence & lawlessness."
Speaking to the gathering, he said, "Terror is when a person is forced to change his or her behavior because of the behavior of someone else who is trying to use intimidation to make them afraid to live in their own homes, to make their children afraid to play in their own yards, to be able to walk their own streets."
He also said that "anything that threatens" a person's feeling that home is a sanctuary, safe, and secure "is an act of terror."
"If you’ve listened to what I’ve said over the past several months, you’ve heard it clearly: I’ve told the government of Israel, and I’ve told our people back in Washington, that there needs to be an equal disbursement of justice for every kind of crime, without distinction. It’s not about who does it; it’s about what was done and how it will be met with consequences."
At the same time, Huckabee said: "My point is that if there’s a behavior that you don’t want to have more of, you have to consequence it. There has to be a penalty that says, 'I don’t really enjoy the penalty that is worth the activity that I’m doing.' So that’s a lesson. It’s not complicated, and what we have to do is to advocate that there are rewards for good behavior, and that there are consequences for bad behavior that would be applied. It doesn’t matter who one is, where one lives, that that would be applied equally and appropriately."
Regarding those who he has termed in the past "terrorists," he said, "I have almost daily conversations, not only with the Israeli government, but with a lot of people who live as Israelis. There’s half a million who live in the West Bank, and I want to say to you that most of them are disgusted by the behavior of this band of terrorists."
Responding to an incident earlier this week, he added, "And, by the way, those terrorists torched a mosque this last week and wrote my name in graffiti and said, 'Huckabee, this is from the terrorist.' And I responded, 'Well, at least you spelled my name right, and more importantly, you admitted who you are -you’re terrorists.' So I’m glad they admitted it. I don’t think that’s what they intended to do, but I do think that they represent a very tiny minority."
"But the sad part is, it doesn’t take a lot of bad people to create a large problem, and it’s important that we continue to put the pressure to say letting a few people do these horrible activities of criminal nature is detrimental, not just to the people who live in the West Bank; it’s detrimental to everyone, Israeli, Palestinian alike."
During his visit, Huckabee also said that he is not familiar with any Israeli plan to uproot Gazans against their will. At the same time, he stressed that if someone wants to leave the area, they should be allowed to do so.