US Secretary of State Marco said Friday that Washington was “concerned” by settler violence against West Bank Palestinians, and claimed Israel would take action against the daily attacks that have gone largely unchecked.

Asked about soaring settler violence while taking questions from reporters in France, Rubio responded, “We’re concerned about that” and noted that US President Donald Trump has previously expressed his opposition last year “against any sort of change in the status quo in the West Bank.”

While Trump has said he would not let Israel annex the West Bank, one of his first actions upon returning to office last year was to lift sanctions that the previous administration had placed on violent settlers.

While Trump officials have also largely avoided commenting publicly on the phenomenon, Rubio insists that Washington is still paying attention. “There’s a lot going on in the world right now, but that’s a topic we follow very closely.”

The top US diplomat went on to insist that the Israeli government is taking the issue seriously, as in addition to largely attacking Palestinians, the assailants have sometimes targeted Israeli security forces.

“The Israelis themselves have expressed [concern]… You’ve seen that some of these groups and individuals — maybe they’re settlers, maybe they’re just street thugs — have attacked Israeli security forces as well, so I think you’ll see the government there do something about it,” Rubio said.

The last time Netanyahu publicly weighed in on the issue was in December, when he........

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