In its response, the Israeli prime minister's office called the remarks "unacceptable and wrong." | Getty U.S. ambassador takes Israel to task on settlements

The U.S. ambassador to Israel blasted the country's settlement policies in the West Bank, remarking in an unusually critical speech that such practices raise "honest questions about Israel's long-term intentions" and drawing a rebuke from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

"First, for Israel, we are concerned and perplexed by Israel’s strategy on settlements," Daniel Shapiro said at the annual conference of the Institute for National Security Studies, a top Israeli think tank, on Monday. "This government and previous Israeli governments have repeatedly expressed their support for a negotiated two-state solution — a solution that would involve both mutual recognition and separation," he continued. "Yet separation will become more and more difficult if Israel plans to continue to expand the footprint of settlements."


In its response, the Israeli prime minister's office called the remarks "unacceptable and wrong" in that they came on the same day a pregnant Israeli woman was stabbed and another victim of a terrorist attack was buried.

Invoking the past words of Secretary of State John Kerry, Shapiro remarked that settlements "can never be an excuse for violence — never."

"But continued settlement growth raises honest questions about Israel’s long-term intentions," he said.