The West Bank is a largely Palestinian territory, but hundreds of thousands of Israelis have built settlements there, which a United Nations court in 2024 said was illegal. The Biden administration imposed sanctions on Israel for the settlements, but the Trump administration rescinded them in January.

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee made a surprise appearance at Benjamin Netanyahu’s corruption trial on Wednesday. Huckabee said he dropped in on Netanyahu’s trial to “see what’s going on” but was asked to leave after proceedings were moved behind closed doors.