{"id":605252,"date":"2026-09-04T04:22:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T04:22:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/605252\/"},"modified":"2026-09-04T04:22:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T04:22:11","slug":"mike-huckabee-warns-israel-over-settler-violence-says-iran-may-need-a-third-kick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/605252\/","title":{"rendered":"Mike Huckabee warns Israel over settler violence, says Iran may need a ‘third kick’"},"content":{"rendered":"

On a balmy summer afternoon this week,\u00a0US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee<\/a> and his team were scoping out the Museum of Tolerance in Jerusalem ahead of the embassy\u2019s annual Independence Day celebrations set to take place there next week.<\/p>\n

This year, it\u2019s a big deal. The US recently celebrated 250 years since its founding.<\/p>\n

Huckabee, who was handpicked for his role by US President Donald Trump, will be marking it at the museum, which, according to the ambassador, makes the special anniversary even more notable.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a magnificent venue, perfect for our event because it\u2019s large enough and the technology here is state-of-the-art,\u201d Huckabee said, smiling with his trademark enthusiasm. \u201cI can\u2019t think of any location in the entire State of Israel that would be more appropriate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Huckabee, 71, a former Arkansas governor and die-hard supporter of Israel who recognizes the power of the tiny Jewish state, spoke to The Jerusalem Post<\/a> as part of a special interview marking the anniversary.<\/p>\n

\"THETHE MUSEUM OF TOLERANCE JERUSALEM. (credit: Shai Gil )<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a lot to celebrate as Americans, and we have a lot to celebrate with Israel,\u201d said the envoy, who unwaveringly believes that the US needs Israel as much as Israel needs the US.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf there was never a Jewish state, if there was never a Jewish people, there would never have been a Christian foundation,\u201d Huckabee said. \u201cWe feel like our roots as America really come from here \u2026 It\u2019s the Judeo-Christian foundation upon which Western civilization was built, and America formed.\u201d<\/p>\n

It has been an intense few months in the Middle East<\/p>\n

THE 250TH Independence Day celebration is taking place a little late this year, two months after the July 4th Independence Day holiday, to be precise. This is mostly, Huckabee said, because it has been an intense few months in the Middle East.<\/p>\n

He has been more focused on the ongoing wars, endless ceasefire negotiations, and the flaring violence that US citizens living under his purview have had to face.<\/p>\n

The ambassador is known for expressing his support for Israel, stating often that \u201cthe partnership with Israel is incredibly valuable to the United States.\u201d And listing the benefits of the partnership as being in the fields of \u201cintelligence,\u201d \u201cmilitary hardware,\u201d \u201ctechnology,\u201d and \u201ccounterterrorism.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, Huckabee has been unable to turn a blind eye to the growing violence being perpetrated by Israeli citizens against Palestinians in the West Bank<\/a>, which, like many Israeli officials, he refers to as Judea and Samaria.<\/p>\n

\u201cViolence is violence. It doesn\u2019t matter who does it \u2013 it should be condemned,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be inappropriate for me to say it\u2019s terrible when Palestinians attack Israelis, which they do \u2026 and I\u2019m very clear on how unacceptable that is \u2026 so I would be a bit of a hypocrite if I only spoke out against violence that was Palestinian on Israeli and refused to speak up if it was Israeli against Palestinian.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most of those committing the violence recently in and around Palestinian towns such as Qusra, Jalud, Turmus Aiya, and Taybeh, Huckabee said, are not Israelis living in established West Bank settlements.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey represent a very tiny minority of the half million Israelis who live very peacefully in Judea and Samaria and raise their families to be good citizens.\u201d<\/p>\n

Huckabee was also clear that \u201cIsraelis have a right to build in Area C under the Oslo Accords, something that is not breaking any of the agreed-upon terms of Oslo from 1993.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey not only have the right, but they have really a responsibility to help create communities where their people can live,\u201d he said. \u201cIsrael is growing rapidly. I know right now the whole country is less than 10 million, but that is changing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWith antisemitism rising around the world, I think you\u2019re going to see more and more people making their way to the Jewish homeland, so it makes sense that part of those new communities are going to be in Judea and Samaria,\u201d the ambassador continued.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t divorce the Jewish people from what has been a homeland of theirs for 3,800 years,\u201d Huckabee said, adding that \u201ceighty percent of the Bible happened in Judea and Samaria.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, the ambassador said he was concerned about the rising violence.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would hope that every person says it\u2019s unacceptable,\u201d he said, adding that he was encouraged last weekend by condemnations from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu<\/a>, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa\u2019ar, President Isaac Herzog, and Yesha Council head Israel Gantz.<\/p>\n

Further, Huckabee said he was hopeful that the arrest warrants issued against several of the perpetrators would \u201chelp discourage, because there have to be consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI tell people the things I\u2019ve learned from raising children and training dogs \u2026 if there\u2019s a behavior you want more of, you reward it; if there\u2019s a behavior you want less of, you put consequences on it,\u201d he said. \u201cI think what we\u2019re seeing is the beginning of the Israelis recognizing we got to have consequences for bad behavior.\u201d<\/p>\n

The media-savvy Huckabee said he was acutely aware that the images of balaclava-wearing, baton-wielding young men taking over family homes of Palestinians, including some US citizens, in the West Bank, and attacking international journalists in recent weeks were extremely damaging for Israel, including within the Republican Party.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s hurting Israel\u2019s reputation and image across the world. That\u2019s why it\u2019s not good that a very small number of people … [who] don\u2019t even live in Judea and Samaria and [who] are not settlers … are doing things that are intentionally disruptive,\u201d he noted.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wish that they understood the damage they\u2019re doing to the country they claim to love because it is not helpful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Huckabee said he would like to challenge their actions \u201con the basis of the Torah.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThou shalt not steal; thou shalt not covet what another person has,\u201d were the biblical verses he said he would use.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo biblically, for those who say: \u2018We\u2019re religious, good, and practice it,\u2019 then don\u2019t do things that are a violation of the most fundamental tenets of the Torah.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ImagesImages of Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei with replicas of missiles seen during a gathering in Tehran, Iran, August 12, 2026 (credit: Contributor\/Getty Images)’Nobody knows what’s going to happen’<\/p>\n

THE AMBASSADOR\u2019S faith and learning are apparent when speaking about Iran, too.<\/p>\n

Asked if this week\u2019s rising tensions between the US and Iran, with missiles intercepted over Jordan, could mean a return to a more intense stage of the war, similar to earlier this year, Huckabee responded cautiously that even though \u201cthis is the land of the prophets and many of them have lived here \u2026 I am not a prophet, nor the son of prophets.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the Middle East. Nobody knows what\u2019s going to happen,\u201d he quipped. \u201cHonestly, could something happen again? Of course it could. It\u2019s a place in the world that is so incredibly contentious all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, Huckabee said, Trump was not surprised by Iran\u2019s refusal to yield, even though its regime and capacity appear to have been significantly weakened over the six months of fighting; rather, he said, the president was \u201cexasperated with their stubbornness.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere I come from in America, we have a saying: \u2018There is no education in the second kick of the mule.\u2019 What it means is, if the mule kicks you once and you don\u2019t learn something from that, the chances are that the second kick ain\u2019t gonna teach you much either,\u201d the ambassador said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Iranians are now after \u2018two kicks of the mule,\u2019 and they still don\u2019t seem to get it \u2026 they\u2019re not going to have a nuclear weapon, they\u2019re not going to get to enrich uranium, and it may take a \u2018third kick of the mule\u2019 at some point. But I hope they get the message. I hope they change their ways,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

While a formal ceasefire remains elusive, Huckabee said that for him, the joint US-Israel opening strike against Iran showed the strength and power of the relationship between the two countries.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a day that I don\u2019t think any of us will forget,\u201d said Huckabee of February 28, the day the two countries launched a surprise attack on their nemesis.<\/p>\n

Listing it as the 5th war-like engagement since arriving as ambassador to Israel in April 2025, Huckabee said he felt an \u201cextraordinary sense of comfort knowing that our militaries were so aligned \u2013 unlike anything in history.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI say this not just from my perspective, but from the perspective of both US military leaders like Adm. [Brad] Cooper,<\/a> who heads CENTCOM and was the strategic partner putting the American part of the plan together, as well as from the Israelis and the IDF, with whom I have almost daily contact,\u201d Huckabee recounted.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe level of seamless operation that was experienced by both militaries … was unprecedented.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe US has had many partners in military engagements through 250 years. We\u2019ve never had one quite like this, where our planes were flying wingtip to wingtip. Our armed refuelers were refueling Israeli aircraft,\u201d Huckabee said.<\/p>\n

He described seeing the scene at the operation center, where American and Israeli military personnel sat side by side, distinguishable only by the flags patched onto their uniforms.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a kind of integration that was just unbelievable,\u201d Huckabee said.<\/p>\n

Huckabee hopeful to see even small steps toward peace<\/p>\n

LOOKING AT alliances \u2013 and tensions \u2013 across the broader region, the ambassador said he was hopeful that even small steps being taken toward resolutions between Israel and Lebanon and in Gaza under Trump\u2019s Board of Peace<\/a> were significant.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would say small steps are better than stepping backward,\u201d Huckabee remarked. \u201cThey are the small steps that you have to take before you can make the big ones.\u201d<\/p>\n

He called the US-mediated talks between Israel and the Lebanese government \u201chistoric.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c[Lebanese President Joseph] Aoun is truly trying to move Lebanon to where its people are free, free to live their lives, free to have homes and to regain the beauty of what once was one of the most beautiful places on Earth,\u201d Huckabee noted, pointing out that for the past 70 years, the Lebanese were banned from even talking to Israelis.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd here we are, sitting in the same room over several weeks in Washington with Israelis, Lebanese, and Americans, talking about how we move forward and get Hezbollah out of the picture so that there could be peace,\u201d he said, recalling comments by President Herzog that he dreamed of one day being able to drive freely from Jerusalem to Beirut.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat vision, that aspiration, is exactly what we all are hoping and praying for,\u201d Huckabee underscored.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the first time in 70 years, we actually can see that this could happen. Will it happen this year? No. Will it be next year? I don\u2019t know, but we are closer today than we\u2019ve been.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Gaza, Huckabee shared the same optimistic view, highlighting that less than a year ago, most people doubted that all the Israelis brutally taken hostage by Hamas on October 7 would be returned home, or that the fighting in the war-torn territory would largely be brought to an end.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery single hostage, living and dead, in the Gaza Strip was returned nearly a year ago. That\u2019s amazing. People didn\u2019t think that would ever happen,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He was very critical of Hamas and its failure to disarm.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey said they would do it, but they haven\u2019t done it,\u201d Huckabee stated, adding, \u201cWhen people say, \u2018Well, are they going to do it?\u2019 I don\u2019t know [the answer to that].\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut here\u2019s what I do know,\u201d he continued. \u201cWhile they said they\u2019re going to give up their weapons, do you know how many they\u2019ve given up so far? Zero. Not even so much as a cap pistol \u2026 So, we\u2019re all waiting on Hamas to fulfill what it said, and at some point, they will either do it, or it will be done for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for criticisms that Israel has not kept its side of the bargain, the ambassador is steadfast.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been in the meetings with the Board of Peace, and they\u2019ve been very clear that Israel has every right to defend itself, every right to neutralize the weapons that are formed against them, and particularly, target those who were responsible for the horrific and heinous attacks of October 7.\u201d<\/p>\n

Acknowledging the upcoming third anniversary of October 7, Huckabee said it was important that \u201cpeople don\u2019t forget what happened that day.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want Americans to forget there were 16 Americans murdered that day and many other Americans taken hostage,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHad this happened in America, given the scale of population that we have, it would have been the equivalent of 40,000 Americans being mutilated, slaughtered, massacred, and 10,000 people being taken hostage.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf anyone thinks that America would have been patient and kind and thoughtful,\u201d sending \u201ca strongly worded letter in response to the murdering and butchering of 40,000 Americans,\u201d the ambassador stressed, \u201cthey don\u2019t know America very well.\u201d<\/p>\n

But, again, Huckabee said he is hopeful that the tragic events of the past three years will make way for something better. He noted that he believed that moving forward, there could be a resumption of countries joining the historic Abraham Accords brokered by Trump during his first term.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019re seeing it already in the foundations of other countries recognizing that peace with Israel makes more sense than enmity with Israel,\u201d he said, gesturing around him to the Museum of Tolerance Jerusalem, which states that it serves as a vital platform for dialogue, understanding, and the fight against antisemitism and hatred in all its forms.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re sitting in a place right now that is really kind of the epicenter of reminding people that peace is possible,\u201d Huckabee continued.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Museum of Tolerance Jerusalem is a great reminder of the travails of the Jewish people, coming from some of the most horrific moments of history to a place where now, in the very center of the heart of Jerusalem, this magnificent facility stands as a testament to the resilience of the Israeli people of the Jewish state.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On a balmy summer afternoon this week,\u00a0US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee and his team were scoping out…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":605253,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[54,50,128748,85,46,112,1034,43,77721,37944,77],"class_list":["post-605252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-donald-trump","tag-gaza","tag-gazan-board-of-peace","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-judea-and-samaria","tag-mike-huckabee","tag-news","tag-settler-violence","tag-settlers","tag-west-bank"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605252","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=605252"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605252\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/605253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=605252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=605252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=605252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}