The Cradle
20 Aug 2026
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee has warned Jewish settlers involved in violence in the occupied West Bank against taking property belonging to US-Palestinian citizens, calling such actions “a violation of God’s law”.
Huckabee, a Baptist minister and longtime supporter of Israeli settlements, told Reuters in an interview that settlers found to have participated in the siege of homes in the occupied West Bank village of Qusra, including the property of US-Palestinian citizen Loui Ridi, could face US sanctions.
Asked what message US President Donald Trump’s administration had for settlers considering taking homes or land in the occupied West Bank owned by US-Palestinian citizens, Huckabee, who last week described those responsible as “Israeli terrorists,” invoked Jewish and Christian scripture.
“I think the message is bigger than just even the Trump administration. It’s a message of basic civility and civilized behavior,” Huckabee told Reuters in Jerusalem.
“You don’t take something that doesn’t belong to you.”
Referring to the Ten Commandments, Huckabee said: “Thou shalt not steal” and that people should neither take nor “covet” – or “desire” – what belongs to others.
“If someone owns the land and they own their house, then having someone come and take it over and scare the family away from it, that’s a violation, not just of man’s law. That’s a violation of God’s law,” said Huckabee, a Republican and former governor of Arkansas.
Huckabee is the first evangelical Christian to serve as US ambassador to Israel. He has long backed Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank and uses the biblical terms Judea and Samaria to refer to the territory.
Defending settlements more broadly, Huckabee said he believed violent settlers represented a minority and did not speak for the wider settlement community, which he said “just want to raise their families in Judea and Samaria peacefully and with a level of security.”
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