The New Indian Express ·
US ambassador calls violent Israeli settlers 'terrorists' after weeks of West Bank unrest
JERUSALEM: The United States ambassador to Israel condemned Israeli settler violence in the occupied West Bank again on Saturday, calling the behavior an "act of terror" as he visited with Palestinian American residents shaken by months of attacks.
Ambassador Mike Huckabee referred to such settlers as "terrorists," a word that US officials usually reserve for Palestinian militants.
"If there are squatters that come in and put up their own flags and take possession of something that does not belong to them, if they burn a car, if they torch a mosque, if they go into someone's home and vandalize it, paint graffiti on the walls, that's a criminal act. But it extends beyond a criminal act. It's an act of terror," Huckabee said during his visit to the village of Turmus Ayya, which has reported frequent attacks by settlers over the past year.
