Attack on West Bank church was ‘act of terror,’ says US envoy
- Last updated: July 19, 2025 | 23:46
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee called on Saturday for the perpetrators of an attack on a Palestinian church in the occupied West Bank blamed on Israeli settlers to be prosecuted, calling it an “act of terror.”
Huckabee said he had visited the Christian town of Taybeh, where clerics said Israeli settlers had started a fire near a cemetery and a 5th-century church on July 8.
“It is an act of terror, and it is a crime,” Huckabee said in a statement, “Those who carry out acts of terror and violence in Taybeh — or anywhere — (should) be found and be prosecuted. Not just reprimanded, that’s not enough.”
Israel’s government has not commented on the incident, but has previously denounced such acts.
On Tuesday, Huckabee said he had asked Israel to “aggressively investigate” the killing of a Palestinian American beaten by settlers in the West Bank, similarly describing it as a “criminal and terrorist act.”
Huckabee is a staunch supporter of Israeli settlements and his comments are a rare and pointed public intervention by the administration of US President Donald Trump.
In early July, the village of Taybeh was hit by an arson attack in the area of the ruins of the Byzantine-era Church of Saint George, which dates back to the fifth century.
Residents blamed settlers for the assault, which comes as violence soars in the West Bank and last week saw an American-Palestinian man killed near Ramallah.
Huckabee, an evangelical Christian and staunch advocate for Israel, said his trip to Taybeh aimed to “express solidarity with the people who just want to live their lives in peace, to be able to go to their own land, to be able to go to their place of worship.” “It doesn’t matter whether it’s a mosque, a church, a synagogue,” he told journalists.
“It’s unacceptable to commit an act of sacrilege by desecrating a place that is supposed to be a place of worship.”
“We will certainly insist that those who carry out acts of terror and violence in Taybeh or anywhere be found, be prosecuted, not just reprimanded. That’s not enough,” he said.
“People need to pay a price for doing something that destroys that which belongs not just to other people, but that which belongs to God.”
Trump in January rescinded sanctions imposed by the former Biden administration on Israeli settler groups and individuals accused of being involved in violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.
Agencies