Huckabee denounces recent settler violence as terrorism, calls those responsible ‘thugs’

US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee brands the latest spate of violence by Israeli extremists against Palestinians in the West Bank as “terrorism,” but insists that the perpetrators are a small number and that Israel is dealing with the issue.

“I think there is an escalation,” Huckabee tells NewsNation’s Elizabeth Vargas Reports, branding the attacks “acts of terrorism.”

“Israelis can carry out terrorism as well. But most of these people are not actual settlers who live there… 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,” Huckabee says, referring to the West Bank by its biblical names.

Huckabee notes that the settler attacks have been condemned by Israel’s leaders and that Jerusalem is pledging to bring those accountable to justice. There have been a handful of arrests in recent days following repeated attacks involving well over 100 Israeli extremists, but no indictments have been filed and many of the suspects have been released.

Asked about the latest exchange of fire in Gaza, Huckabee says he thinks the ceasefire is still holding and that such incidents are to be expected.

“Israel is within its rights. They have to strike back when they are attacked by Hamas, when they break out of those tunnels,” he says. “But I think, overall… the president’s plan is moving along very, very effectively.”

He dismisses the idea that Israel is concerned about the US sale of F-35s to Saudi Arabia, arguing that Jerusalem “knows that there’s still statutory requirements from the United States that Israel has a superiority in terms of defense mechanisms and US weapons.”

“We have an agreement with Israel that they are supposed to have military superiority in the Middle East. I think that they believe that the U.S. is going to honor that,” Huckabee says.

“Selling some F-35s to the Saudis to give them the ability to protect themselves, perhaps against Iran, is not in and of itself something that would be offensive to Israel,” he adds.