OAN Staff Blake Wolf
10:33 AM – Sunday, July 20, 2025
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee visited the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Saturday to condemn the attack on an ancient Palestinian church, which was reportedly perpetrated by Israeli settlers.
Huckabee, a staunch supporter of Israel, visited the Christian town of Taybeh to denounce the recent arson attack in the area of the Byzantine-era Church of Saint George.
Residents and local church leaders have blamed Israeli settlers for the fire, although the Israeli government has not commented on the incident.
“Taybeh is a quiet Palestinian Christian village south of Jerusalem w/ a lot of American citizens that has been vandalized-including fires set at ancient church. I visited there today. Desecrating a church, mosque or synagogue is a crime against humanity and God,” Huckabee wrote in an X post on Saturday after touring Taybeh.
“I work for ALL American citizens who live in Israel-Jewish, Muslim or Christian. When they are terrorized or victims of crime I will demand those responsible be held accountable w/ real consequences. Was in Taybeh today to meet with people of that village to listen & learn,” he continued.
Huckabee also seemingly demanded that the Israeli government prosecute those involved in the arson attack.
“We will certainly insist that those who carry out acts of terror and violence in Taybeh – or anywhere – be found and be prosecuted. Not just reprimanded, that’s not enough,” Huckabee added. “People need to pay a price for doing something that destroys that which belongs, not just to other people, but that which belongs to God. That is sacrilege. It’s against the Holy.”
Huckabee’s announcement follows a previous incident in which he demanded that the Israeli government “aggressively investigate” the murder of a Palestinian American beaten to death by Israeli settlers in the West Bank.
Sayfollah Musallet, a Florida-born American, was beaten to death by Israeli settlers while visiting family in the area on July 11th.
In response to the incident, Huckabee demanded that there “must be accountability for this criminal and terrorist act.”
It is currently unclear as to how the violence began, although the Israeli military claimed that the confrontation occurred after Palestinians started throwing rocks at Israeli civilians.
Musallet’s family released a statement following his death, stating that he had been “brutally beaten to death by Israeli settlers while he was protecting his family’s land from settlers who were attempting to steal it.”
“Israeli settlers surrounded [Musallet] for over three hours as paramedics attempted to reach him, but the mob of settlers blocked the ambulance and paramedics from providing lifesaving aid,” Mussallet’s family claimed in their statement.
“This is an unimaginable nightmare and injustice that no family should ever have to face,” the family’s statement added. “We demand the U.S. State Department lead an immediate investigation and hold the Israeli settlers who killed [Musallet] accountable for their crimes. We demand justice.”
Additionally, Huckabee has threatened to publicly declare that Israel is no longer welcoming Christian tour groups to visit Israel, as Jerusalem has reportedly failed to approve tourist visas for American evangelical missions.
Huckabee wrote the letter to Interior Minister Moshe Arbel on Wednesday, which read: “It is with great distress that I write to you my profound disappointment that the meeting held in your office has not resulted in what I hoped to be a simple resolution of the issue of routine granting of visas for Chrisian organization and workers, as has been practiced for decades.”
“It would be very unfortunate that our embassy would have to publicly announce throughout the United States that the State of Israel is no longer welcoming Christian organization and their representatives and is instead engaging in harassment and negative treament toward organizatons with long-standing relationships and positive involvement toward Zionism and friendship to the Jewish people and the State of Israel,” Huckabee continued.
Copies of the letter were reportedly distributed to Israeli government figures, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Isaac Herzog, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, and Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana.
“If the government of Israel continues to cause the expense and bureaucratic harassment for the granting of routine visas that for decades have been routine, I will have no other choice than to instruct our consular section to review options for reciprocal treatment of Israeli citizens seeking visas to the United States,” Huckabee added.
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