US says attack on West Bank Palestinian church was 'act of terror'

RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) -U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee called on Saturday for the perpetrators of an attack on a Palestinian church in the occupied West Bank blamed on Israeli settlers to be prosecuted, calling it an "act of terror".

Huckabee said he had visited the Christian town of Taybeh, where clerics said Israeli settlers had started a fire near a cemetery and a 5th-century church on July 8.

"It is an act of terror, and it is a crime," Huckabee said in a statement, "Those who carry out acts of terror and violence in Taybeh – or anywhere – (should) be found and be prosecuted. Not just reprimanded, that’s not enough."

Israel's government has not commented on the incident, but has previously denounced such acts.

On Tuesday, Huckabee said he had asked Israel to "aggressively investigate" the killing of a Palestinian American beaten by settlers in the West Bank, similarly describing it as a "criminal and terrorist act".

Huckabee is a staunch supporter of Israeli settlements and his comments are a rare and pointed public intervention by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump.

Trump in January rescinded sanctions imposed by the former Biden administration on Israeli settler groups and individuals accused of being involved in violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.

Settler attacks on Palestinians and Palestinian attacks on Israelis in the West Bank have risen since the start of Israel's war on the Hamas militant group in Gaza in October 2023, though violence has long simmered there.

The United Nations' highest court said last year that Israel's settlements in territories it captured in the 1967 Middle East war, including the West Bank, were illegal.

Israel disputes this, citing biblical and historical ties to the land as well as security needs.

(Reporting by Ali Sawafta; Writing by Maayan Lubell; Editing by Kevin Liffey)