US accuses Israeli youths of ‘terrorism’ after Christians attacked – The Telegraph

Rebuke by Mike Huckabee, the ambassador to Israel, follows days of rolling violence in West Bank
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The US ambassador to Israel has described recent Israeli violence in the West Bank as “terrorism” after a Christian town was attacked.
Mike Huckabee, a staunch supporter of Jewish expansion in the occupied territory, denounced “thugs” who had “come there to create havoc”.
The rare rebuke by a senior Trump administration official followed days of rolling violence in the West Bank, triggered in part by the Israeli security forces’ unusual decision to demolish a number of illegal outposts near Hebron. Israel has also stepped up air strikes in Gaza, having said its troops came under fire in the south of the enclave on Wednesday.
Given a particularly violent olive-harvest season in the West Bank in recent weeks, some Israeli politicians have said that the state had lost control.
Masked youths appeared to respond by torching Palestinian homes and vehicles, including in Jab’a, a village near Bethlehem.
Taybeh, a prominent Palestinian Christian town, has also been attacked, prompting the intervention by Mr Huckabee, an ordained evangelical pastor.
Speaking to News Nation, he said: “Israelis can carry out terrorism as well. But most of these people are not actual settlers who live there,” he said.
“This is a very small number, mostly of youth, angry and disaffected. These are thugs. Many of them don’t even live in Judea and Samaria. They come into there to create havoc,” he added, referring to the West Bank by its biblical name.
Many security analysts disagree that the perpetrators come from outside the West Bank.
Instead, they point to a growing split between the mainstream settler community, who prefer to work with Israeli security personnel to improve their foothold in the territory, and an ultra-violent splinter group who are prepared to be violent towards the Israel Defense Forces and police if they try to stop them from attacking Palestinians.
Mr Huckabee is arguably the most pro-Israeli ambassador the United States has sent to the country and he rarely voices criticism. However, earlier this year, he called for police to take action following another attack on Taybeh.
Some arrests have been made this week, but as yet no charges have been brought.
On Tuesday, an Israeli citizen was killed and three others were injured following a car-ramming and stabbing attack carried out by two Palestinian assailants at the Gush Etzion Junction in the West Bank.
Donald Trump began his second term by lifting US sanctions on various settler ringleaders who had been identified as orchestrating violence towards Palestinians.
Activists accused him of giving the green light to increased attacks this year.
However, Mr Trump has disappointed the settler community by telling Israel not to annex the territory, fearing it would derail his peacebuilding efforts with Arab countries.
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In a potential threat to his Gaza deal, Qatar strongly condemned Israel’s air strikes in the Strip on Wednesday, which reportedly killed at least 25 people.
Further Israeli strikes took place in Gaza’s southern city of Khan Younis early on Thursday, killing five people, hospital officials told the Associated Press.
The strikes have been some of the deadliest since a US-brokered ceasefire took effect in October.
They took place after Israel said its troops came under fire near Khan Younis on Wednesday.
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