US Officials Split Over Response to Israeli West Bank Settlements

A proposed U.S. statement criticizing the UK, France and Canada over restrictions on imports from Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank was ultimately shelved amid disagreements within the Trump administration, according to Reuters.

The September 8 draft, attributed to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, would have condemned the three countries’ measures as hostile toward Israel and linked them to the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement. Two sources said David Milstein, an aide to U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, pushed for the statement.

However, three people familiar with the matter said the proposal lacked support from the White House and senior State Department officials. Rubio instead avoided directly criticizing the countries when questioned by reporters that day.

The episode underscores differences within the administration over Israeli settlement expansion under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. President Donald Trump has voiced opposition to further expansion and previously said he would not allow Israel to annex the West Bank. Huckabee, meanwhile, has long supported Israeli settlements and commonly refers to the territory as Judea and Samaria.

The debate comes as U.S. public opinion toward Israel shifts. A June Quinnipiac University poll found 48% of voters believed Washington was too supportive of Israel, including 66% of Democrats. Pew Research Center polling in March also found that 57% of Republicans aged 18 to 49 held an unfavorable view of Israel, compared with 50% a year earlier.

Israel has occupied the West Bank since the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. The United Nations and most countries consider Israeli settlements illegal under international law, while Israel disputes that interpretation.

Settler violence against Palestinians has also increased this year. Huckabee has condemned such attacks and called for offenders to face prosecution while arguing that violent settlers represent a minority.

Around 500,000 Israeli settlers and 3 million Palestinians currently live in the West Bank, which Palestinians seek as part of a future independent state alongside Gaza and East Jerusalem.