US ambassador to Israel denounces settler siege on Palestinians

0:00This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK.

0:30Check out The Global Story on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.

0:39Hello and welcome to NewsHour live from the BBC World Service in London. I'm Rebecca Kesby and we begin the programme with the latest from the village of Kusra in the occupied West Bank. It's just south of Nablus. We've been following the growing tensions there all week after a group of illegal Israeli settlers surrounded the residential compound of two Palestinian families on Sunday, blocking the entrance and exit. The families told us the settlers had cut off their electricity and water supply. The Israeli defence forces have deployed extra troops to the area today, but the situation has drawn sharp criticism inside Israel and further afield.

1:21Today, the American ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, described the group of settlers involved as Israeli terrorists. He wrote on social media that there was no excuse for such thuggish behaviour. Well, we're going to speak to an Israeli official in just a moment and hear from our correspondent close to the scene. First, though, we can hear from this woman. She asked us not to use her name, but she's a supporter of the Palestinian family at the centre of this story and happened to be visiting their house at the weekend just before the siege of the property began. And she described how the IDF evacuated the families from the compound earlier this morning.

2:00Sadly, this morning at around maybe 8.39 in the morning, we have all been waking up very abruptly from the military. At least 10, 15 militaries were standing in front of the house and they asked us to evacuate the house in 30 minutes. So we packed very fast all our stuff and we have been moved to another house inside the gate. This gate is up a mountain close to Kudra, south of Nablus. And there are three houses here. And we have been moved from the first and bigger house to the smallest and almost not constructed house. So, I mean, we've been speaking to members of the family over the past few days.

2:44When we spoke to them, they said they didn't want to leave their house. They wanted the children to leave, but they didn't want to leave. Can you explain why? The reason why no one wants to leave, especially Palestinian families, is first of all, it's their home. Why would they need to leave? And second, sadly, that's a very common strategy right now in the West Bank. They exhaust Palestinian families to make them leave their house. And once they leave their house or their home, they're never being able to return. When the IDF arrived to escort you to this new location, could you see any attempt to arrest any of the settlers that have been cutting the original house off?

3:24Were they detained in any way? No, absolutely. Absolutely. There has been no arrest whatsoever to settlers. And now from the house, we can still see at least 10 of them still harassing us and patrolling the house outside without the army doing anything about it. The only thing that happened yesterday night, or rather this morning at around 5 or 4 in the morning, is that they finally dismantled the outpost because there is a court order that says that the outpost is illegal and has to be dismantled. And just to be clear, you're saying that the settlers are still outside the new house where you are now?

4:03Absolutely. How close to the house are they now? They're outside the fence, but that still means like maybe 20 metres from us, 30 metres from us, and they are really harassing us and making videos, screaming. What sort of things are they doing? So not much because the military are inside a bigger house right now. But what they're doing is patrolling the area, screaming slurs, making videos of us. So it's important that you understand that this settlement that's here near Kuzira is the most aggressive settlement there is in the West Bank. Children are literally raised there only to hate and attack Palestinians.

4:47And that was one supporter of those Palestinian families. She was one of those who was evacuated by Israeli soldiers earlier, the IDF, saying they were trying to ensure the safety of those families. We can speak now live to David Mensah, who's a spokesperson for the Israeli Prime Minister's office. He joins us live from Jerusalem. So welcome to the programme. So we've heard from the US ambassador to Israel today, Mike Huckabee, describing the settlers besieging these homes in Kusra as Israeli terrorists. Is he right about that? Good afternoon, Rebecca. Well, these incidents are indeed deplorable.

5:28They are unacceptable. And we do, all of us here in Israel, condemn violence against innocent Palestinians just in the same way as we condemn violence against Israelis. And we are acting against it, as you've been reporting. The Israeli army is acting against it and we are investigating it and we will arrest those responsible and we will prosecute them. But it's very important to put this globally into context. In the first quarter of this year alone, or just in May alone, in the first quarter of this year, 354 of these investigations have been opened and 35 extremists have been arrested and 20 indictments filed.

6:11So this violence is thankfully declining because of this action. 35 % down. They are going down, but still it is unacceptable. Yes. OK, well, that's interesting that you say that because it seems as if there have been no arrests made as yet of these illegal settlers. Why not? I mean, the IDF have been present all week. In fact, some members of the IDF apparently were praying with these settlers earlier on this week. Why didn't they arrest them? I mean, they've cut off the water, the electricity. That is illegal behaviour, surely. Look, we don't condone violence against innocent people. We're a country of law and order.

6:53Where there is wrongdoing, we act against it and we investigate it and we arrest those responsible. That's why we're taking the action that we are taking. But what here is so often missing from this discussion is that these crimes, and they are crimes, and they're committed by a tiny extremist minority, maybe only 150 in number. They're juvenile delinquents. Very often, they're not even from the area of Judea and Samaria, as you call it, the West Bank. They don't represent the more than half a million Jewish people who are living in a law-abiding way in Judea and Samaria. You are the overwhelming majority.

7:29I'm sorry to jump in, but these settlements are illegal, aren't they, under both international law and Israeli law. That's a slightly different issue. But I mean, you know, that's understood as it is. I mean, I just wonder, are there plans to discipline the IDF soldiers that have failed to contain this situation this week? Because, I mean, it does rather look as if they've been unable or unwilling to do anything about it until international press teams started turning up. Well, you said that you made some comments there, which I can't agree with. Judea and Samaria is very much the heartland of the Jewish people, notwithstanding the Palestinians that live there as well.

8:11Indeed, your name is Rebecca. Rebecca herself, who was married to Isaac, is buried in Judea and Samaria, Rebecca. We don't need to get into that. No, sure. But most troubling of all, this narrative, and it is, and I don't shy away from condemning lawbreaking, But this narrative, it's being used to obscure a much larger threat. And it's a threat which, unfortunately, the BBC doesn't cover enough. Because in May alone, there were 350 Palestinian terrorist attacks in Judea and Samaria. That means pipe bombs, fire bombs, arson attacks, car ramings, and hundreds of stone-throwing attacks. What we do know is that around 2 ,000 Palestinians have been displaced in the occupied West Bank over the past six months or so.

8:58People have felt pushed out of their homes. They've been intimidated. We've been reporting on that. And these are their homes. They are the rightful owners of these homes. I don't accept that Palestinians are being pushed out of their homes. Where there are actions by the Israeli army to protect our citizens, we take them. But yes, of course, we condemn extremist actions by these reprobates. We do. and Israel acts against them. But you should not smear an entire community and don't use the crimes of a tiny minority to whitewash the literally hundreds of Palestinian terror attacks against Israelis.

9:37Very often they are hardly reported by the BBC. Briefly, will those soldiers that have failed to contain this situation, will they be disciplined briefly? Well, I'm not on the ground and I can't possibly make a judgment on that. But as I said, we're a country of law and order. Our military, which we're extremely proud of, my own children who serves amongst them, indeed, everyone here is part of, it's a citizen army. And so I'll resist the temptation to jump into that trap. But I will say we're a country of law and order. Where there is law breaking, we will stand up against it. But please put this in the context of the much larger number of real murderous terror attacks that are taking place against Jewish people every single day, unfortunately.

10:22Very good to get you on the programme. David Mensah, thank you so much there, Mr. Mensah, spokesperson for the Israeli Prime Minister's office. I'm told we can cross live now to the village of Kusra in the occupied West Bank because our correspondent John Donison is there. John, what is the latest from the scene? Well the latest is that the Israeli army overnight they went in with bulldozers and they demolished this small outpost I guess tent encampment that these settlers had set up close to these Palestinian houses which still remain under siege. The soldiers then went inside the houses and we've spoken to the families inside and they told us that they were all moved from two of the houses into a third house.

11:11So the families are all now in one house. They haven't been told to leave entirely yet, but that is what they fear. And they still say that they are low on water. I think the electricity, certainly if it's not cut off at the moment, it's been cut off for much of the last few days. At the same time, it was interesting listening to Mr. Mentz there because we've just been down into Kusra village itself. We spoke to a guy who was one of about 11 families who this morning the Israeli soldiers went in, simply went into their houses, told them to get out, and they have seized those houses for a period of several hours, they were told, but still they'd not been allowed back in.

11:59So they have taken over those houses for what they said were military purposes. Right. Interesting. It was also quite interesting that Mr Mensah said that there will be arrests of these illegal settlers, but there's no sign that that's happened at all yet.

12:16No, I did hear reports that perhaps one settler had been arrested overnight, but But no, and the truth is that prosecutions, Mr. Mentor cited some statistics, but they are, given the number of incidents, successful prosecutions are very, very rare. and the accusation from the United Nations, from human rights groups, from Palestinians, is that the Israeli military allows settlers to act with impunity, with the backing of far-right ministers within Israel's government, who not only don't condemn these sort of actions, but they actively are accused of encouraging them and inciting such violence.

13:05And I think what's important to remember here, and clearly the line from the Prime Minister's office and from Ambassador Huckabee, the US ambassador, is that these are a few extremists, a few bad apples. But certainly, you know, Mike Huckabee and the Israeli government support the settler project more broadly. And this is just one outpost that's been dismantled today. It just so happens in Janine, a big Palestinian city to the north of here today, a whole new settlement has been opened. We must leave it there, John. Thank you for joining us. John Donelson there, live from Kusra. Still to come, Russian journalist and Nobel laureate Dmitry Muratov has an exclusive interview with the BBC, and he says there can be no chance of victory for Russia in Ukraine.

13:53understand this there will never be victory because what has been going on for almost five years no matter how it ends can no longer be considered a victory it can't be a victory when two slavic nations have ripped a million people to shreds more on that to come our top headline This hour, as we've been hearing Palestinians say, the Israeli military has evacuated several houses in a village in the occupied West Bank Kusra, where Israeli settlers have been besieging Palestinian families. This is Rebecca Kesby with NewsHour live from the BBC. Next, we're heading to the Pacific, to the disputed Kuril Island chain claimed by both Russia and Japan.

14:46Today, Russian President Vladimir Putin made his first ever visit to one of the islands, a move that has enraged the Japanese Prime Minister, Sane Takachiichi, who said it was absolutely unacceptable. For more details, I've been speaking to the BBC's Tokyo correspondent, Kurumi Mori. So this Russian visit, is it a deliberately provocative move? Yeah, that's right. I mean, Russian media reports showed today Putin walking around in a dark suit, inspecting some fish, visiting a seafood processing facility to save some local fish roe. But yeah, Japan and Russia never signed a formal Second World War peace treaty.

15:26So this is provocative because it remains an unresolved territorial dispute over the islands. And the Japanese prime minister is apoplectic about it. But realistically, what can Japan do about this visit? I mean, to be honest, probably not much. I think voicing anger is about all they can do. First, we heard from the foreign minister, Toshimitsu Motegi. He said that Japan really strongly protests the visit. A few hours later, Prime Minister Sonai Takaichi followed that, criticizing Putin's visit as absolutely unacceptable. These islands, the way that they're situated in this location, the strategic location in the Pacific is quite important for the Russian military.

16:13And the U.S. supports Japan's stance over these four islands. And that to Russia has been a threat to Moscow as it sees U.S. presence just on its doorstep. So for Russia to be able to assert that these islands are theirs is a hugely important stance for their military and security. The BBC's Karumi Murray there in Tokyo. Well, elsewhere in the Pacific, China is conducting a major military exercise off the eastern coast of Taiwan. The Indonesian Navy is also involved. It's the first time China has carried out such an operation with a foreign military in that area. This Chinese naval officer radioed to his counterparts in English during the drill.

16:5522. This is 21. Echo X-ray 2. Beijing considers Taiwan part of China, but it actually operates as a self-governing democratic entity. It has its own constitution, currency and military. Only 12 countries recognise it officially as a state, which does not include any major powers. The United States has had an agreement with the government in Taipei since 1979. 1979. It's called the Taiwan Relations Act, promising to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself in the event of an invasion. However, the US doesn't officially recognise Taiwan's independence and the already strategically ambiguous status of this relationship between Washington and Taipei has become more pronounced under the Trump administration.

17:46Earlier, I spoke to the foreign minister of Taiwan, Lin Cha-Lung, and I asked him first about the current Chinese Indonesian military manoeuvres in east of Taiwan. How much of a concern is that? The Chinese military expansion is not just targeting Taiwan. Expansionalism toward the Pacific region as a whole. So all democracy and like my dead countries in the first island chain in the Indo-Pacific should work together to counter authoritarian expansionism. So yesterday we heard from the United States urging Beijing at least to end its military pressure against Taiwan. Was that a statement that you welcomed?

18:33And does it give you confidence that the United States is still in your corner? Yeah, of course. Our relationship with the United States, based on the institutional foundations, such as the Taiwan Redaction Act and arms sales to Taiwan. Last year, Taiwan already secured two big packages from the Trump administration, 11 billion US dollars. But the issue related to delivery is a concern. Yes. Now, I wanted to ask you about that, Minister, because as you say, the Trump administration did approve that huge arms sale back in December. Actually, I think it's one of the biggest ever struck by the United States for Taiwan.

19:19But since then, we've heard from the Navy Secretary of the United States saying that that deal is on pause at the moment. And the line was to ensure the US has enough weapons for the Iran war. Can you update us on that deal? Have you received any of those weapons that you wanted? As Secretary Robbio has said publicly, the arms sales are under review, not suspended. We are still in the process of delivering. So we are still very confident on the continuity and delivery. Of course, Mr Trump made that historic visit to Beijing just a few weeks ago in May. And President Xi apparently said that the issue of Taiwan was the most important issue for him in bilateral ties with the US.

20:09And he said any mishandling of the situation could lead to conflict. On Mr Trump's part, he does seem noncommittal on the question of Taiwan. How confident are you that the United States will still abide by that Taiwan Relations Act that you mentioned, signed in 1979, to help Taiwan defend itself? I think the Trump administration has reiterated that there is no change on the US policy over Taiwan. So even after the summit in May between President Trump and Chairman Xi, We consider there's still room for the progress of Taiwan-U.S. relationship. Even President Trump highlights Taiwan is Taiwan, and Taiwan is not thanks for negotiation.

20:59It's in the U.S. interest to have Taiwan out of the table. Nonetheless, though, I mean, we're getting a message from the Defense Secretary in the United States, Pete Hegseth. He says the Indo-Pacific region is the priority theatre at the moment. And he says the new course is going to be grounded in realities for stability of power and interest. And the era of subsidizing the defense of wealthy nations is over. How do you read that statement? The issue is about burden sharing. Taiwan already tried our best to increase our defense budget to 3.3 % of GDP and to 5 % by 2030. so as to effectively deter Chinese invasion.

21:49In terms of whether or not the Pacific region is a priority for the United States, as Pete Hegseth was speaking about it last year, since then, of course, we've had the war in the Persian Gulf, which I'm sure you're watching very carefully. What's your take on the American involvement in its war against Iran and how does that change the situation in the Pacific? Yeah, we do have a concern about the role played by Beijing, because Beijing is likely to take advantage of the current situation. So we have been watching very closely the wars in Middle East and Ukraine. Do you think that the American focus in the Persian Gulf actually would make it make them less able to come to your defense in the event of any Chinese aggression?

22:40I think it's a matter of degree. But in terms of resource allocation, I think that should be a concern. US and Taiwanese leaders, although they have very close relations, they've not directly spoken, I think, for decades. But President Trump has said that he would talk directly to Taiwanese leader, President Lai. Are there plans for that? And would it be a good thing? Due to the obstruction from Beijing, I think it is a sensitive issue. But we are more than happy to receive a phone call from President Trump if he will. We are trying to stabilise the situation in the Taiwan Strait. So we need to communicate with the national leaders of other countries.

23:29That's Lin Cha-Lung, Foreign Minister of Taiwan.

23:37John Deere is putting in work and putting up highlights. Oh, man, look at those passes. Tillage, planting, harvesting. Three years in, and these pre-owned machines are still at the top of their game. We're talking reliability, performance, and long-term potential. And get this, these veteran machines can pick up the latest precision tech with ease. You know it, and fans ready to add John Deere-certified pre-owned equipment and more options to their lineup can shop at machinefinder.com. Booyah! The U.S. has long been suspected of trying to sway elections in other countries. But is something more brazen going on these days?

24:14I'm Asma Khalid, and I'm one of the hosts of the Global Story podcast from the BBC. Brazil has accused the U.S. of meddling in its upcoming vote. The U.S. has dismissed the allegation. But how do these claims fit into the long legacy of American electoral interventions? Check out the Global Story on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.

24:38Welcome back to NewsHour. Vultures are disappearing across West Africa. Once a common sight around markets, abattoirs and dump sites, the birds have become increasingly rare in many parts of Nigeria. Conservationists warn their decline could pose a serious public health risk. But in southeastern Nigeria, one community is defying that trend. There, vultures are revered and fiercely protected by local tradition. The BBC's Makocho Okofo travelled to Anambra State to meet a man who's dedicated his whole life to safeguarding the birds, risking his safety and challenging deeply held perceptions. For many people, vultures are birds linked to death and decay.

25:23Their disappearance across Africa has gone largely unnoticed. But in one community in southeastern Nigeria, one man is fighting to protect these misunderstood birds.

25:36I'm meeting Chukwemeka Igwe inside a sacred forest where an ancient shrine has become an unlikely refuge for vultures. Locals know him by an unusual name. So people began to call me Ezeudene, which means the king of vulture. And I cannot run away from it. At the center of this forest is the shrine to Ngoma, where sacrifices and a sacred tree provide safety and shelter for vultures. Most of the times, people do hunt vultures. They will run to higher trees. But when they run here at this shrine, people fear the environment where the shrine is. No evil will ever happen here. So nobody fights vultures that peaches here.

26:26But there was a time when vultures were disappearing from Oki Titi. Chukwemeka remembers when the skies were once filled with them. When we are growing up here, I tell you, vultures, there are too many flying everywhere. The birds were part of everyday life. You'll be walking, the vultures will be walking as well, looking for what to eat. Then hunters from outside the community arrived. Vultures began to disappear and nobody knows why and what causes it. In 2017, the Nigerian Conservation Foundation began working with the community to protect the birds. Chikwemeka became one of their strongest voices.