Republican Senator Lindsey Graham joined criticism against Israel Sunday night over a series of incidents in Judea and Samaria involving damage to Christian religious sites and American citizens. Graham, a staunch supporter of Israel in the Senate, expressed his outrage in an interview with Fox News.
US Senator Lindsey Graham:
There was a Palestinian Catholic church burned in the West Bank.
If Israeli settlers are the ones who burned the church in the West Bank, I want them to be punished.
I will write to the Israeli government regarding the burning of a church in the West… pic.twitter.com/9wfmbs6gSL
— Clash Report (@clashreport) July 21, 2025
"Christians are being targeted all over the Mideast. There was a Catholic church burned in the West Bank. I'm incredibly upset by that," Graham said. He was referring to incidents of arson targeting religious buildings and a cemetery near the Christian village of Tayibe near Ramallah.
"You had a Palestinian Catholic church burned to the ground, and I want to find out who did it, and I want them to be punished. And if it was settlers from the West Bank, Israelis, I want them to be punished. So I'm going to write a letter to the Israeli government. I want accounting for what happened," the senator added.
Graham also mentioned the visit by US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee to Tayibe on Saturday, stating that "He went to the community in question and he told the people there that America would get to the bottom of this."
The senator also addressed the death of Sayf Muslet, a 20-year-old American-Palestinian who was killed in Judea and Samaria, with the act attributed to Israeli settlers, saying that "a young American Palestinian, 20 years old, was killed in the West Bank, visiting his family. This needs to stop."
Graham's words come amid growing tension from the Christian world following two types of incidents. In Gaza, damage to the "Holy Family" church, the only Catholic church in the Strip, caused the deaths of three people and sparked outrage from Pope Leo XIV, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and President Trump. In Judea and Samaria, the burning of Christian religious buildings in Tayibe and the death of a 20-year-old American-Palestinian, acts attributed to settlers, have drawn sharp criticism from Republican Senator Lindsey Graham and US Ambassador Huckabee.
