Huckabee and Tucker Carlson Clash Over Reported Settler Attack on U.S. Citizen in West Bank

TURMUS AYYA, West Bank —

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee and commentator Tucker Carlson traded accusations on X on Thursday, Oct. 29, over a reported settler attack on an American citizen in the West Bank town of Turmus Ayya, The Christian Post reported Friday. The man's name was not published.

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Carlson posted a video that shows black-clad people beating a man with weapons, then appearing to set a car on fire and run, according to The Christian Post. He said the man was “beaten almost to death” and told Huckabee, “You know his name because he came to you for help, but you blew him off.” His post tagged the White House, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Huckabee and Huckabee's senior adviser, David Milstein.

Huckabee called Carlson “deranged” and wrote, “Tucker knows how to contact me, but he'd rather make unfounded accusations than get facts.” He gave a timeline saying the embassy's American Citizen Services office got an Oct. 19 email from the man's son, who lives in Chicago, saying his father had been attacked at home by settlers and was at Istishari Hospital in Ramallah.

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By Huckabee's account, the embassy called and emailed the son repeatedly from Oct. 19 to Oct. 26 and called the hospital, but never reached the father. He said the son declined to give his father's contact information, asked to be the only point of contact and did not want to involve local authorities. The son reported on Oct. 21 that his father was having surgery and later sent medical reports and photos of the wounds, the timeline says.

Carlson replied that Huckabee kept calling the man “allegedly attacked” despite the video. The Christian Post also noted an Oct. 8 New York Times report that claimed Milstein suppressed, revised or delayed embassy cables to portray the Israeli government more favorably. Huckabee dismissed that report as deficient and overly reliant on anonymous sources.

Huckabee visited Turmus Ayya on Sept. 5 and said it was in the Israeli government's interest to act against “criminal behaviour and terrorism,” Al-Monitor reported. Mayor Nawwaf Zaghoul said then that about 80% of residents hold U.S. citizenship.

What we don't know yet: The man's condition is not confirmed, and The Christian Post did not report any response from Israeli authorities. Who carried out the attack, and whether anyone has been arrested, has not been reported. Watchman News has not independently verified the video or the embassy timeline, and we found no account from the man or his son.