In a notable departure from traditional conservative messaging on Israeli-Palestinian issues, two prominent Trump-affiliated figures have spoken out about recent violence in Judea and Samaria involving Palestinian-American casualties.
Former Florida congressman Matt Gaetz, anchoring a segment on One America News Network (OAN), delivered unprecedented criticism of Israeli settler actions in the wake of Palestinian-American Saif Musallet’s killing. The Wednesday broadcast represented a striking departure for the far-right network, which has historically offered unwavering support for Israeli policies.
The segment’s significance was amplified by OAN’s decision to spotlight an issue “that was once largely ignored in conservative circles,” signaling what appears to be a shift among some MAGA Republicans toward more critical positions on Israel’s actions against Palestinians.
“The truth is, this isn’t an isolated tragedy. It’s part of a pattern of Israeli settler attacks on Palestinian communities that include the torching of homes, farms, and lives, all while protected by Israeli forces who are funded by US tax dollars,” Gaetz declared during the segment.
Gaetz, who withdrew as President Trump’s original attorney general nominee amid mounting scandals, escalated his critique by addressing what he framed as systemic impunity.
“That’s not even the most troubling part. Israel rarely holds these killers accountable,” he stated, adding that “there have been eight unsolved killings of American citizens just since 2022.”
In a notable rhetorical choice, Gaetz referred to Judea and Samaria by its biblical name while simultaneously condemning settler conduct, using language that highlighted the complex positioning within his criticism.
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, a longtime evangelical supporter of Israeli settlements, also broke with his typical stance by characterizing Musallet’s death as terrorism and demanding accountability.
“There must be accountability for this criminal and terrorist act. Saif was just 20 yrs old,” Huckabee wrote on social media platform X, marking what appeared to be his first public condemnation of settler violence.
The ambassador’s statement carried particular weight given his well-established support for Israel’s settlement enterprise and his position as a key Trump administration representative in Israel.
Twenty-year-old Saif Musallet, a Tampa, Florida resident visiting family in the Judea and Samaria for the summer, was found beaten to death. His friend Mohammed al-Shalabi was discovered hours later with a gunshot wound and signs of torture, according to family members.
While two Israeli minors were arrested following the incident, neither faces murder charges, and both were released to house arrest.
The incident has generated conflicting accounts of what transpired. Israeli security officials maintain the violence stemmed from a coordinated Palestinian attack on Jewish civilians, with Israeli forces responding to protect settlers under assault.
According to Israeli accounts, Palestinian rioters, joined by left-wing anti-Israel activists, attacked Jewish shepherds near the community of Ateret, throwing stones and setting fires. Israeli officials point to the discovery of a booby-trapped gas tank as evidence of premeditated violence.
Palestinian sources, however, describe the incident as settler violence against Palestinian civilians, with Musallet’s family demanding US State Department involvement in investigating his death.
The statements by Gaetz and Huckabee represent a notable fracture within traditional conservative support for Israeli policies, particularly significant given both figures’ positions within Trump’s political orbit. The willingness of a far-right network like OAN to air criticism of Israeli actions suggests broader shifts may be occurring within segments of the MAGA movement.
This development is particularly striking considering the historical reluctance of conservative media to highlight settler violence against Palestinians. The fact that OAN chose to focus on what the network itself acknowledged was “a phenomenon that was once largely ignored in conservative circles” indicates a potential realignment in how some right-wing voices approach Israel-Palestine issues, especially when American citizens are involved.
The Musallet family has called for the US State Department to “lead an immediate investigation and hold the Israeli settlers who killed Saif accountable for their crimes.”
Israeli police, working with the Shin Bet and Military Police, are investigating the incident but report challenges accessing evidence, as the families of the deceased Palestinians have buried the bodies and indicated distrust of Israeli authorities, refusing to cooperate with the investigation.
The case highlights the complex intersection of American citizenship, Middle East politics, and the evolving positions within Trump-aligned conservative media and diplomatic circles on Israeli settlement policies.
Officials from the Binyamin Regional Council slammed the Palestinian narrative, accusing both the PA and Hamas of spreading a modern-day blood libel. “This was a premeditated terror attack by local Arabs, joined by radical foreign and Israeli anarchists,” said a statement from the council. “Now the terrorists and their enablers are trying to reverse the roles and paint the Jewish victims as aggressors. We will not allow this vile narrative to stand.”
The Israeli Foreign Ministry posted a video on Twitter showing Arabs throwing rocks at Jews.
“This is what they won’t show you on the news – how the incident started: Palestinians attacking Jews,” the post stated.
The Yesha (Yehuda and Shomron/Judea and Samaria) council released an official statement in response:
This type of “settler violence” libel was documented in a comprehensive new report from the Regavim Movement, titled “False Flags and Real Agendas,” which investigates the widely circulated narrative of “settler violence” in Judea and Samaria. It exposes how this concept is often based on inflated or distorted data—primarily sourced from Palestinian testimonies and the UN OCHA database—with minimal independent verification. Over 98 % of flagged incidents stemmed from clashes involving the IDF or were legitimate security operations rather than Jewish civilian aggression. After filtering out non‑violent events—such as traffic mishaps, archaeological visits, legal infrastructure work, or self‑defense actions—the number of credible settler violence cases dwindles to a few hundred over several years—far below the claimed scale.
The report asserts that the narrative of “settler violence” functions as a political weapon and a modern‑day blood libel, designed not only to defame Israeli settlers but also to undermine the legitimacy of the State of Israel and its military. It points to coordination between left‑wing NGOs, international bodies, and even Palestinian authorities, all aiming to distort incidents for political ends, including securing global pressure, sanctions, and delegitimization of Israel. The report calls for transparent, accurate data and a proactive public diplomacy campaign to combat these false narratives. As it concludes, the concept of widespread “settler violence” is overwhelmingly a fabricated lie, repackaged as a propaganda tool in the broader struggle against Israel.
