Despite Seeing a Video of American Journalist Jasper Nathaniel Being Attacked, Ambassador Mike Huckabee Refused to Speak to Him
On Oct. 19, 2025, American journalist Jasper Nathaniel and several other American Palestinian citizens were met with a violent ambush by Israeli settlers while documenting the olive harvest in Turmus’ayya – a village in the occupied West Bank. The attack, which, according to Nathaniel, was facilitated by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), left several Palestinian farmers injured, including an elderly woman beaten unconscious. When Nathaniel sought help from U.S. officials afterward, he was rejected again — this time by former Arkansas Governor and current U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee.
In an Oct. 21 X post, Nathaniel revealed that a political contact with direct access to Ambassador Huckabee sent him video evidence of the attack, told him Nathaniel was still in the West Bank, and asked if they could talk about the journalist’s safety. Huckabee declined. It’s part of a pattern of U.S. officials doing nothing when American citizens face danger in the occupied territories.
The attack in Turmus’ayya wasn’t random. Nathaniel’s nine-minute video shows how IDF soldiers escorted a group of Palestinian farmers and international observers, including Nathaniel, into a valley near Ramallah. Over 100 armed settlers came down with clubs, metal rods, and stones, attacking the group while IDF vehicles reportedly drove away. The footage shows settlers chasing farmers across rocky terrain, an elderly woman collapsing after being struck repeatedly, and no military intervention whatsoever.
Settler violence in the West Bank has tripled since October 2023, according to UN data, displacing over 1,200 Palestinians. Human rights groups like B’Tselem have documented instances of IDF complicity for years, either through inaction or, as Nathaniel claims happened here, active coordination. His accusation that the IDF deliberately led the group into a “kill zone” is backed by video showing soldiers positioning the convoy in an exposed area before leaving them there.
The response from American authorities has been inadequate. After escaping, Nathaniel contacted the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem and received a text message saying they couldn’t protect him. Huckabee’s refusal to even discuss what happened shows how U.S. policy defers to Israel, even when American lives are on the line.
This isn’t the first time. Nathaniel previously drew attention to the killing of Palestinian American Sayfollah Mussalet by settlers in July 2025—a case that got no meaningful response from U.S. officials. The embassy’s inaction and Huckabee’s dismissal send a clear message: American journalists and citizens in the West Bank are on their own, no matter what evidence they have or what dangers they face.
Nathaniel, a New York resident, has publicly called on Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, and Congressman Daniel Goldman to address this, asking whether their “unconditional support for Israel” matters more than the safety of their constituents. His footage, now widely shared, demands accountability for the settlers who attacked, for the IDF’s alleged role, and for the U.S. government’s failure to protect its citizens.
In 2025 alone, two American citizens have been killed as a result of Israeli settler violence. 40-year-old Chicago resident, Khamis al-Ayyad, died of smoke inhalation on July 31 in Silwad after settlers set fire to homes and cars in a dawn raid. The father of five fainted while extinguishing flames near his home.
On July 11, 20-year-old Sayfollah “Saif” Kamel Musallet was beaten to death with clubs and bats by over two dozen masked settlers while protecting family farmland from encroachment. Israeli soldiers allegedly blocked ambulances for hours. Musallet worked at his father’s ice cream shop in Tampa, Florida. His cousin, 16-year-old Mohammed Ibrahim, was arrested in February 2025 from his family’s home in the West Bank village of Sinjil for allegedly throwing rocks at Israeli settlers encroaching on family farmland. As of October 2025, he remains detained without trial in Megiddo prison amid ongoing settler violence, with his family demanding U.S. intervention for his release.