US Ambassador to Israel: Those who desecrated Taybeh’s Christian sites should be found and prosecuted, not just reprimanded

TAYBEH, Holy Land — US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee inspected the Christian village of Taybeh in the West Bank today, after Jewish settlers had desecrated Christian holy sites in recent weeks.  

Ambassador Huckabee, himself a Christian, was not pleased with what he saw. He did not mince his words and called the desecration of holy sites not only a crime but an act of terror; “To commit an act of sacrilege by desecrating a place that is supposed to be a place of worship, it is an act of terror, and it is a crime. There should be consequences, and it should be harsh consequences because it is one of the last bastions of our civilization, the places where we worship.” 

The Ambassador pledged his full support to the Christian population of Taybeh and that he will certainly urge the Israeli authorities to find and prosecute those who commit this act. Moreover, it is as if the US Ambassador has a hunch about how the Israeli government deals—or not— with Jewish settlers who desecrate sacred sites: “Not just reprimanded, that’s not enough. People need to pay a price for doing something that destroys that which belongs, not just to other people, but that which belongs to God. That is a sacrilege. It’s against the Holy,” he stated. 

Huckabee concluded his statement by saying that the Christian community of Taybeh deserves respect and deserves to be treated with dignity. Nothing short of that. 

Also read: Mor Theophilos III visits Taybeh village in West Bank 

Taybeh: A Christian Village  

Taybeh is a village located in Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate in the central West Bank. It is one of the oldest Canaanite villages in the region and remains predominantly Christian to this day. The population is predominantly Greek (Rûm) Orthodox, Melkite Catholic and Latin Catholic.  

French explorer Victor Guérin visited Taybeh in 1863 and reported around 800 residents—60 Catholics and the rest Orthodox Christians. An Ottoman list from around 1870 recorded the village population at 283 males, reflecting its Christian character even then.  

Near the village stands the ruined Church of Saint George, as well as remnants of a destroyed fortress.