How violent West Bank settlers are threatening Israel’s alliance with America

A Palestinian man inspects damage to his home after an attack by Jewish settlers in the village of Beit Imrin, north of Nablus in the West Bank. The settlers attacked Palestinian homes, destroying walls and infrastructure, cutting off electricity, and stealing homes' contents. | Nasser Ishtayeh/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images Mike Huckabee, the US ambassador to Israel, is a Christian Zionist who believes that Israel is biblically entitled to all of the Holy Land. He’s pretty much the last person you’d expect to condemn Israeli conduct in the West Bank, where settlers have spent decades using a combination of construction, coercion, and outright violence to push Palestinians off their own land. Yet earlier this month, Huckabee went out of his way to denounce the behavior of some settlers — describing them as “band of terrorists” who had committed “horrible activities of criminal nature.” Huckabee’s surprising outrage stems, in part, from their recent choice of victims. Last month, settler extremists besieged three Palestinian homes in the village of Qusra, including one belonging to American citizen Lou Ridi. About two weeks later, masked settlers beat up a NBC News crew while they attempted to interview Aida Ahmed Abdullah, a Palestinian who had herself had been forced...