U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee is calling for an investigation into the killing of an American citizen in the occupied West Bank. On Friday, 20-year-old Saif al-Din Kamel Abdul Karim Musallat, who was born in Florida, was beaten to death by Israeli settlers in the town of Sinjil.
“I have asked @Israel to aggressively investigate the murder of Saif Mussallet [sic], an American citizen who was visiting family in Sinjil when he was beaten to death,” Huckabee posted on X Tuesday afternoon. “There must be accountability for this criminal and terrorist act. Saif was just 20 [years] old.”
Huckabee’s comments come just days after Musallat’s family called on the Department of State to investigate the Palestinian American’s killing. “We demand the U.S. State Department lead an immediate investigation and hold the Israeli settlers who killed Saif accountable for their crimes. We demand justice,” said Kamel Musallat, his father.
Musallat and another Palestinian, 23-year-old Mohammed Rizq Hussein al-Shalabi, were killed during a clash between settlers and local villagers. The former had built an outpost near Palestinian land. According to Musallat’s family, he was “protecting his family’s land from settlers who were attempting to steal it.” They also claim that settlers blocked medical personnel from reaching Musallat.
Huckabee, who toured the West Bank earlier this month, is a longtime supporter of the settler movement and has endorsed Israeli efforts to annex the territory. During his trip to the region, he claimed that the settlers “represent God’s presence and His choice of this land,” which he refers to as “Judea and Samaria.” During his 2016 presidential campaign, Huckabee disputed the notion that Israel was occupying the West Bank, arguing that Israel’s claim to the territory was stronger than the American claim to Manhattan.
More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since Israel began its genocidal war in the Gaza Strip. In April, IDF forces killed 14-year-old Palestinian American Omar Mohammed Rabea near the town of Turmus Ayya. The Israeli military accused him and two other teenagers of “terrorism,” claiming that they had been throwing rocks at motorists on a nearby highway. The IDF took Rabea into custody shortly after shooting him, and he was declared dead soon afterwards.
