Amb Huckabee blasts ‘Israeli terrorists’ who besieged Palestinian home; IDF clears radicals but also evacuates Palestinians

U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee, a highly vocal, longtime supporter of Israel’s right to Judea and Samaria (internationally known as the West Bank), slammed Israeli radicals in unusually harsh language on Thursday as the saga surrounding an illegal outpost blockading Palestinian homes continued.

On Thursday, the IDF first launched a broad operation to clear the radical settlers, before informing several Palestinian locals, including those whose house has been surrounded for several days, that they would also have to leave.

This decision was later overturned by the IDF’s area commander, although at least one family had not returned home at the time of publication.

Over the weekend, several Israeli activists had set up an outpost outside a house in the village of Qusra, located in Area B as per the Oslo Accords, making it illegal under Israeli law. The outpost, which consisted primarily of a tent, was placed on an access road and prevented the Hassan and Abu Ridi families from leaving, according to several media reports.

Here is evidence that @IDF & @israelpolice went to Qusra to remove illegal trespassers there to intimidate Palestinian residents. It's just not accurate to say @Israel nor @usembassyjlm did nothing to protect Palestinian homeowners/US citizens. pic.twitter.com/UMKyHqdtFJ

— Ambassador Mike Huckabee (@GovMikeHuckabee) August 13, 2026

Several other illegal outposts had been established in the area in recent months, and one of the homes that was “besieged,” as many Israeli media outlets described it, belonged to an American Palestinian who lives in Ohio, along with other members of the Abu Ridi family being trapped in the home.

According to Times of Israel Palestinian Affairs correspondent Nurit Yohanan, the move is part of a broader phenomenon of "sieges" where Israeli settler activists set up outposts, or even attack Palestinian residents and property, including cutting electricity and water, in an effort to push them out, squat in their homes, and take over the land.

According to Elisha Yered, a radical settler activist famous for saying that “spitting near priests or churches is an ancient Jewish custom,” Qusra as a village and the Abu Ridi family in particular are engaged in an effort to exert Arab control over Jabal Ein Einah, the second-highest mountain in Samaria, on whose slopes the house is located.

⭕️ Security forces dismantled two illegal outposts located in Area B, on the outskirts of the Qusra and Jalud areas, and confiscated the equipment at the site. One Israeli was detained.

The soldiers will carry out defensive missions and patrols in the area to maintain security… pic.twitter.com/FhyEvPLjJq

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) August 13, 2026

Yered alleged that the outposts were part of a struggle over the mountain between the Jewish settlers and Palestinian locals, accusing residents of Qusra of launching a series of attacks against Jews, and claiming Abu Ridi himself was arrested, though later released, for taking part in an attempted lynching of a Jewish shepherd in the area.

The outpost, Yered argued, was simply a tent meant to provide shade for shepherds, and never prevented anyone from leaving.

On Wednesday, the Israeli military said it had received a report regarding “Israeli civilians entering and taking control of Palestinian homes and land,” condemning the “illegal, reprehensible, and unacceptable activity that harms the residents of the areas and disrupts their daily lives.”

For five consecutive days, Israeli settler terrorists are surrounding the home of an American citizen in the Palestinian village of Qusra in the occupied West Bank, leaving the family trapped inside their own home.

Yes, the owner of this house is an American citizen.

For five… pic.twitter.com/iaPyeISGzj

— Ihab Hassan (@IhabHassane) August 12, 2026

The IDF also said that soldiers who were filmed praying alongside the settlers rather than confronting them would face disciplinary action.

Israeli news outlets reported that White House officials believed Israel was not taking the matter seriously and was allowing “anarchy” to take place in the area.

Responding to a Palestinian activist on 𝕏, Huckabee said it was a “lie” that the U.S. embassy had not acted.

“The IDF & Israel Police have gone at our request to remove the Israeli terrorists doing this,” he wrote on Thursday, after the activists had returned following the IDF’s first evacuation the previous day.

אם הבית הזה מוכר לכם אתם לא טועים, זהו הבית של הערבים המסכנים, דובוני האכפת לי מקוצרא שכלי התקשורת, צה"ל והשמאל בכללותו התגייסו להגן עליהם. זהו אירוע מלפני כחודש בו יידו אבנים על יהודים מגג הבית. אירוע אחד מכמה pic.twitter.com/Fce2pymzAo

— אלחנן גרונר (@elchanangr) August 13, 2026

“The actions of those doing this to this family’s home is criminal.... Actions by those who carried out this horrific act of terror meant to intimidate and harass this family are disgusting. No excuse for such thuggish behavior,” said Huckabee.

On Thursday, the IDF launched a larger operation in the area, evacuating one of the outposts near Qusra for the 12th time, according to Army Radio. Yered claimed that the outpost was erected “at the 90th minute, before the ridge was taken over.” The troops confiscated the activists' equipment and detained one Israeli civilian in the operation.

The report also noted that due to the situation, an IDF battalion that had been on an operational break after months of intense combat, was sent to reinforce the Samaria Regional Brigade, highlighting the additional strain on soldiers caused by the activists’ illegal actions.

The situation took another turn later on Thursday, when Army Radio reported that the Samaria Brigade informed residents of Qusra that it would launch a broad, three-day operation to restore security in the area – and ordered several Palestinian homes to be evacuated and seized for the duration of the operation, to serve the military as bases.

יש אירועים שאני עוד יכול להבין, אבל מה שעובר על מועצת יש"ע ומקהלת המגנים מהימין שנסחפים כעדר עיוור הוא פשיטת רגל מוחלטת.

איש מהם לא בדק את הפרטים, לא ניסה אפילו להבין את האירוע, כולם מיהרו להדהד את מסרי התקשורת ולמלא את תפקידם ככלי שרת בקמפיין הציני והמרושע של מפלגות השמאל… pic.twitter.com/EikBtZpIGs

— אלישע ירד (@ElishaYered) August 13, 2026

This included the homes of the Hassan and Abu Ridi families, who had already vacated their houses when, several hours later, U.S. Central Command Chief Maj.-Gen. Avi Bluth, who toured the area on Wednesday and vowed that the families would not be pushed out, decided to reverse the Samaria Brigade commander’s decision.

The Israeli military said troops were “deployed in the area of Qusra to protect the residents and maintain security in the area. The soldiers were instructed that the Qusra residents will remain in their homes. Furthermore, the soldiers will not operate inside the Palestinian family's home located near the site where the tent that was evacuated and dismantled had been erected.”

However, The Times of Israel reported that the Abu Ridi family had returned, but that soldiers on the ground were still preventing the Hassan family from entering the home.

There was no additional statement from the IDF available at the time of publication, and no government representative has yet to address the Israeli public about the situation, which has garnered negative press coverage worlwide.

יום חמישי ברציפות בקוסרה. המתנחלים עדיין מול הבתים למי שתהה. (לפי עדות מוקדמת יותר פונו לכמה דקות אך לפי התיעוד הם שם כרגע) pic.twitter.com/KFHwFBjBa2

— Nurit Yohanan (@nurityohanan) August 13, 2026

Israel Gantz, head of the Yesha Council – the umbrella of municipal councils in Judea and Samaria – condemned the behavior of the settler activists in a statement noting that it is “not our way. There is no place for privately deciding to establish an outpost in the yard of a house, even when it concerns an illegal house or an attempt to take control of the land.”

“There is no doubt that some are exploiting these events for a campaign against the settlement enterprise, but this must not obscure the simple fact: what happened in Qusra is improper and unacceptable to us,” Gantz added.

Responding to Huckabee’s condemnation, Israel Hayom journalist Ariel Kahana cited Col. (ret.) Oded Revivi, formerly a senior settlement leader: “It was not only the events in Qusra that led Ambassador Huckabee to use very harsh words, in which he called the Israelis who acted there ‘Israeli terrorists’ and defined the actions as ‘criminal,’ but also the support of some of the right-wing leaders who supposedly seek to promote settlement but through their actions score an own goal and create further distance.”

“The silence in Jerusalem in the face of the events also became especially jarring to the ambassador’s ears,” Revivi assessed.

“We must not be confused by the election campaign and the desire to scrape together a few more votes. Domestic politics that tramples on the national interest will ultimately endanger everything we have built. If a true friend like Huckabee needs to bang on the table, we all need to stop and ask how it happened that we lost our way and correct it immediately.”