US ambassador calls settlers who besieged Palestinian homes in Qusra ‘terrorists’

JTA – The West Bank settlement movement’s leadership joined with one of its most prominent defenders, US Ambassador Mike Huckabee, in condemning an Israeli settler outpost set up in a Palestinian family’s yard. 

Huckabee’s remarks are a signal of the degree to which a group of radicals is rattling Israeli politics and the US-Israel relationship. 

Israelis affiliated with the West Bank’s Tel Talpiot outpost, which is illegal under Israeli law, set up temporary structures at the entrances to Palestinian homes on the outskirts of the village of Qusra on Sunday.  

Earlier this week, cables connecting the homes to the electricity grid and to solar panels were cut, and water pipes were damaged, leaving the Palestinian families unable to leave or bring in food. Israeli activists in the area who monitor settler attacks on Palestinians confirmed the account to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA). 

Huckabee wrote on X on Thursday that Israeli forces had gone to Qusra at the US Embassy’s request and described the people who set up the outpost as “Israeli terrorists”. He posted that “the IDF & Israel Police have gone at our request to remove the Israeli terrorists doing this.”   

The language was a departure for the ambassador, who told Israel’s Channel 14 in September that the United States “respects Israel as a sovereign state and will not tell Israel what to do” regarding sovereignty in the West Bank. Huckabee has also consistently described the territory by its biblical names, Judea and Samaria. He routinely takes to social media to dismantle what he says are lies depicting Israelis as unfairly treating Palestinians.  

He has condemned settler violence before, but has rarely done so in language as blunt as what he used on Thursday. In July 2025, he visited the Christian village of Taybeh in the West Bank after an arson attack at its fifth-century church and called it an “act of terror and crime”.  

The actions of Israeli settler extremists have been a major concern to Democrats in the US Congress in recent months, adding fodder to their calls to condition aid to Israel on its behaviour. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insists the reports are overblown, and that Palestinian violence is much more serious. President Donald Trump, who has often supported Netanyahu, has called on the prime minister to crack down on the violence, seeing it as an impediment to his hopes for a broader Middle East peace. Huckabee’s intervention suggests that the Trump administration is increasingly concerned about ending the violence. 

Yisrael Ganz, who chairs the Yesha Council and governs the Binyamin Regional Council, condemned the outpost. 

“The events in Qusra are serious and do not reflect our values or our way of conducting ourselves,” Ganz said. “There is no place for individuals to take matters into their own hands and establish an outpost in someone’s backyard, even when dealing with an illegal home or an attempt to seize control of the land. There is no justification whatsoever for violence against uninvolved civilians or security forces.” 

He added that some were “exploiting these events as part of a campaign against the Jewish communities”, but that this “must not obscure the simple truth: What happened in Qusra was wrong and is unacceptable to us”. 

Huckabee amplified Ganz’s statement later on Thursday, writing on X, “’Settlers’ are not the problem in Judea/Samaria. ‘Unsettlers’ are,” he wrote, describing them as a “very small minority who do great damage to Palestinian families & to Israel”. 

The village is located in Area B, territory that is under the civil jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority and security control of the Israeli military and where Israeli settlement is not permitted. The Israel Defense Forces called such takeovers illegal and reprehensible on Tuesday. Overnight on Wednesday, Israeli security forces said they demolished the structures at Qusra and detained one Israeli. 

Marmar Odeh, a village representative, told JTA that the Israeli military remained inside Qusra, and footage circulating on social media showed Israeli soldiers stationed inside the homes of evacuated residents. 

“I won’t be going anywhere. I am staying in my house and on my land,” Odeh said. “I may not be scared, but the children are all the time.” 

In a voice memo recorded on 12 August and obtained by JTA, Aisha Abu Rida, a Qusra resident, spoke from inside one of the besieged homes. 

“We are surrounded by settlers, but we are steadfast,” she said. “Despite the water and electricity being cut off, we will remain steadfast … and stay in our homes.” 

By Thursday, the structures were gone, but settlers remained on the hillsides above the homes, Odeh said, an account supported by footage he provided to JTA. Soldiers had left most of the homes they had entered, residents said on Friday, but were informed the military operation could last until Sunday. 

One of the affected homes belongs to Loui Ridi, a Toledo, Ohio, business owner who was born in Qusra and has followed the standoff through security cameras installed at the property. JTA attempted to reach Ridi through several channels and was unsuccessful. 

Asked whether the State Department shared Huckabee’s characterisation and whether the embassy had requested the Israeli operation, a State Department spokesperson did not directly reply. “We are in regular dialogue with partners about improving stability and security in the West Bank,” the spokesperson said. “We condemn criminal violence by any party in the West Bank. A stable West Bank keeps Israel secure and is in line with this administration’s goal to achieve peace in the region.” 

In a statement to JTA, the Israeli military said soldiers had been deployed in Qusra since Thursday morning “to protect the residents and maintain security in the area” and that they had been instructed that “the Qusra residents will remain in their homes”. 

It added that troops would not operate inside the Palestinian family’s home near the site “where the tent that was evacuated and dismantled had been erected”, and said Civil Administration liaison officers were in contact with Qusra’s local leadership and “working to avoid disruption to the daily lives of the residents in the area”.