Huckabee calls on Israel to ‘aggressively’ probe ‘terrorist murder’ of US-Palestinian in West Bank

[Right_in_Virginia]

Huckabee calls on Israel to ‘aggressively’ probe ‘terrorist murder’ of US-Palestinian in West Bank
Times of Israel, Jul 15, 2025

In a highly rare statement weighing in on Israeli policy in the West Bank, US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee says that he has asked Jerusalem to “aggressively investigate the murder” of Palestinian-American Saif Musalat after he was allegedly beaten to death by settlers in the village of Sinjil near Ramallah last week.

“There must be accountability for this criminal and terrorist act. Saif was just 20 yrs old,” Huckabee says in a post on X.

This appears to be one of the first times that Huckabee has commented on rampant settler violence in the West Bank, though he avoids using the term or characterizing the killing as part of a phenomenon.

A devout evangelical Christian, Huckabee has long expressed support for Israel annexing the West Bank.

Christian Palestinian activists have been circulating a petition in recent days urging Huckabee to call out settler violence that has targeted the Christian village of Taybeh.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/huckabee-calls-on-israel-to-aggressively-probe-terrorist-murder-of-us-palestinian-in-west-bank/

[Right_in_Virginia]

Family of US citizen beaten to death by Israeli settlers calls on Trump administration to prosecute killers
The Guardian/UK, Jul 15, 2025

Relatives of Sayfollah Musallet, a US citizen from Florida beaten to death by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, are calling for the Trump administration to arrest and prosecute those responsible for his killing.

The 20-year-old from Tampa was visiting his family in an area near Ramallah, and died last week trying to protect their farm from invaders, they said at an emotional press conference in Florida on Monday afternoon.

His uncle Hasem Musallet paid tribute to the “loving, respectful” boy who loved baseball and had just opened an ice-cream business in Tampa with several of his cousins. He decried what the family saw as indifference from the US government over the murder of one of its citizens.

“Somebody needs to be held accountable,” he said.

“He wanted to be a businessman ever since he was young. He was planning on expanding, finding a wife, having a family. That was his dream but it was cut short at 20 years old, cut short unjustly.”

Musallet was beaten with clubs and bats, and died in the same attack that killed a 23-year-old Palestinian man. Razek Hussein al-Shalabi was shot and left to bleed to death, the Palestinian health ministry said.

More: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jul/15/sayfollet-musallet-citizen-killed-israeli-settler-west-bank