Huckabee reverses rhetoric, says stabbing of Israeli won’t get ‘international attention’

Huckabee’s comments came after he faced criticism over his response to allegations of violence by Israeli settlers in Judea and Samaria.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said Monday’s stabbing of an Israeli in Judea and Samaria was unlikely to receive the international attention given to attacks on Palestinians, days after his criticism of violence by Israeli settlers drew pushback.

“This won’t get the international attention that attacks on Palestinians receive but it’s a daily occurrence that Israelis have to live with,” Huckabee wrote.

This won’t get the international attention that attacks on Palestinians receive but it’s a daily occurrence that Israelis have to live with. 🙏 for the “Peace of Jerusalem.” https://t.co/3HLgVpHiBU

— Ambassador Mike Huckabee (@GovMikeHuckabee) September 7, 2026

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also responded to the attack after Israeli troops killed the terrorist responsible for the stabbing.

“No terrorist has a hiding place,” Netanyahu said. “I commend our heroic soldiers who engaged the terrorist and eliminated the terrorist who carried out the attack in Samaria.”

Defense Minister Israel Katz separately warned that an “all-out war” would follow if terrorists in the West Bank planned an Oct. 7-type attack against Israeli troops or settlements.

Huckabee’s comments came after he faced criticism over his response to allegations of violence by Israeli settlers in Judea and Samaria.

The ambassador visited Turmus Ayya on Saturday and met Palestinian Americans who alleged that local Israeli Jews were carrying out intimidation and harassment.

Afterward, Huckabee posted a video showing Jewish men driving a security vehicle near the village and described allegations he heard of “criminal & terrorist actions” by trespassers entering private property.

Amishav Melet, a Jewish resident of the Shiloh area who was driving the vehicle, later identified himself and challenged the implication that those filmed posed a threat to Palestinians.

“Well, that was me. I was the driver of the Ranger you filmed,” Melet wrote in a response to Huckabee after Shabbat.

Former US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman has also criticized Huckabee’s statements about settler violence, warning that the ambassador risked promoting a “false media narrative” about Jews living in the disputed territories.

Friedman, a staunch supporter of Israel and the settlement movement, nevertheless described Huckabee as a “dear friend” whose support for Israel is “unwavering and historic,” while rejecting Huckabee’s characterization of the extent of settler violence.