US Officials Face Fresh Pressure After Another American 'Brutalized' by Israeli Settlers in West Bank
"One town over from Abu Falah and was attacked on the same day," he noted. "They're really cracking down here."
The journalist pointed out that six weeks ago, President Donald Trump's ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, "stood in a home in Turmus 'Ayya, telling residents they deserved peace, condemning settler terror, and promising severe consequences."
"Today, settlers burned American homes and assaulted US citizens here," he continued. "No accountability in sight."
"Meanwhile, Huckabee just gave the keynote speech at a settlement conference alongside Eliram Azoulay, one of the key figures in ethnically cleansing Masafer Yatta," Nathaniel added.
Israeli settlers set fire to a house and attack Palestinians in Turmus 'Ayya, a town in the illegally occupied West Bank, on October 19, 2026. (Photo by Avishay Mohar/Facebook)
Avishay Mohar, who is part of Activestills, "an independent photography collective engaged in decolonial struggles in Palestine/Israel since 2005," described the Monday attack with photographs on his Facebook and Instagram accounts.
"Israelis set fire to a house and attack Palestinian olive harvesters in Turmus 'Ayya as they picked olives in a residential area between the village's houses," he wrote in the caption. "Over the years, Israel has taken nearly all of the village's land. The Israelis, dressed in black and wearing masks, severely beat an elderly farmer with sticks and sharp objects."
"They threw stones at houses, set two cars on fire, and burned a room in one of the homes," according to Mohar. "Later, Israeli army forces arrived along with other Israeli civilians, including one known for building new outposts in the area. They threatened residents with tear gas if they did not leave immediately, and banned them from blocking the road leading from the violent outposts to the village homes."
The United States' largest Muslim civil rights group and its Chicago chapter demanded action from US policymakers—who have increased the billions of dollars in military aid that they give to Israel annually since Israeli forces began a genocidal war on Palestinians in the Gaza Strip in response to the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attack.
Throughout Israel's assault on Gaza—which has killed over 74,000 people—there has been a surge of violence by Israeli settlers and soldiers in the West Bank, leading to the deaths of more than 1,100 Palestinians and multiple Americans.
"Once again, the extremist thugs supported and enabled by the Israeli government have brutalized an American citizen. Enough is enough. Failing to speak out about this and demand accountability is a betrayal of the American people in favor of a foreign state," said the Council on American-Islamic Relations and CAIR-Chicago in a Monday statement.
"We call on Illinois lawmakers to condemn this vicious attack. We call on members of Congress to demand the US government place sanctions on illegal Israeli settlers and the Israeli military," they continued. "We call on Illinois State Treasurer Michael Frerichs to divest Illinois' public funds from Israel bonds and halt all new purchases and renewals."
They added that "Illinois taxpayers should not be bankrolling a government that enables attacks on American citizens. We also call on the US government to launch an independent investigation into the attacks on Mohammed Sakat, Heidi Levine, and all other Americans targeted by Israeli settlers and troops."
Between the Israeli settler assaults of Levine and Sakat, there were reports that Israel's military ignored repeated distress calls before masked settlers attacked a group of European diplomats in the West Bank over the weekend.
While the Israel Defense Forces attempted to defend itself by saying the diplomats did not coordinate their visit with the military and turned to a hotline not intended for civilian use, the anti-occupation group Breaking the Silence said that "the IDF will always have a bureaucratic excuse, but the real reason is that backing settler terrorists is its policy."
According to The Associated Press, "Israeli police said they arrested 10 people on Monday in connection with a wave of settler violence that included attacks on a foreign journalist and European diplomats in the occupied West Bank over the weekend."
However, as the Palestinian National Authority's news agency WAFA noted in a Monday report about three olive harvesters injured by Israeli settlers near Salfit, "colonists' violence against Palestinians and their property is routine in the West Bank and is rarely prosecuted by Israeli authorities."
