Staunchly pro-Israel GOP senator demands punishment for settlers who lit fire next to church ruins in West Bank

South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, one of the strongest pro-Israel voices in Congress for decades, says he is “incredibly upset” by settler violence near the ruins of a historic church in the West Bank.

“There was a Catholic Church burned in the West Bank,” says Graham, referring to a brush fire reportedly set by Jewish extremists that reached the walls of the compound of the 5th-century church, as well as the nearby Christian cemetery.

Graham says he is sending a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government demanding an account of what happened in the incident.

At the same time, Graham stresses that he is an “unapologetic supporter of the State of Israel.”

“As a Christian, you can go to Jerusalem and worship safely. As a Muslim, you can do the same. It’s a very religiously diverse country.”

“What’s happening in the West Bank bothers the hell out of me,” he continues.

“You had a Palestinian Catholic Church burned to the ground,” he says, misrepresenting the incident. The site consists of the stone ruins of the 1,500-year-old church, and the fire reached the grass along the remaining walls of the church.

“I want to find out who did it, and I want them to be punished,” he says. “And if it was settlers from the West Bank, I want them to be punished.”

Such violence, he says “needs to stop.”

US Senator Lindsey Graham:

There was a Palestinian Catholic church burned in the West Bank.

If Israeli settlers are the ones who burned the church in the West Bank, I want them to be punished.

I will write to the Israeli government regarding the burning of a church in the West… pic.twitter.com/9wfmbs6gSL

— Clash Report (@clashreport) July 21, 2025