{"id":734457,"date":"2026-06-30T08:10:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T08:10:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/734457\/"},"modified":"2026-06-30T08:10:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T08:10:12","slug":"mike-huckabee-on-the-future-of-us-israel-relations-under-donald-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/734457\/","title":{"rendered":"Mike Huckabee on the future of US-Israel relations under Donald Trump"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cI don\u2019t think a lot of people understand that if there were not an Israel, there wouldn\u2019t be a United States,\u201d Huckabee told The Jerusalem Report in an exclusive interview in his Jerusalem office on the eve of America\u2019s 250th anniversary<\/a> celebrations.<\/p>\n

\u201cIsrael is the foundation of Judaism, and Judaism is the foundation of Christianity,\u201d said the ambassador, whose convictions are grounded in his evangelical Christian beliefs and who served as a pastor and a broadcaster before taking up public office.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Judeo-Christian value system, upon which all of Western civilization is built, is really what gave rise to America, so there is a very real sense in which America can trace its roots to Jerusalem,\u201d continued the ambassador, who takes great pride in his deep knowledge of the Bible and his own connection to the Land of Israel. He is often heard boasting proudly about his more than 100 visits to Israel before taking up his current role.<\/p>\n

In a show of his dedication to the Bible, almost an entire wall of the ambassador\u2019s office is taken up with a colorful scene from the holy book, depicting the story of the spies sent by Moses to scout Canaan, a story, he says, his grandson can recite with ease even though most visitors do not immediately recognize the context.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know it would surprise a lot of people, but if you look at it historically and from a standpoint of where American values really come from, they came from a God-centered, Judeo-Christian foundation<\/a> that believes our purposes on earth are God-designed, not man-made; that our basic fundamental rights come from God, not man,\u201d Huckabee said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Unwavering support<\/p>\n

Huckabee highlighted that those values are also enshrined in the US Declaration of Independence and form the foundation of support by successive American presidents going back to Israel\u2019s creation in 1948.<\/p>\n

In fact, the original telegram \u2013 replete with handwritten inserts and corrections \u2013 sent by president Harry S. Truman, recognizing the establishment of the State of Israel, is also displayed on the wall of the ambassador\u2019s office \u2013 opposite the colorful biblical imagery.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s one of my favorite things on the wall; it really shows that connection between the US and Israel,\u201d Huckabee says of the gold-framed telegram, a gift from Israel\u2019s Education Minister Yoav Kisch.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe [Truman] recognized Israel 11 minutes after it declared its independence, against the advice of everyone in his office at the White House. I think it\u2019s one of the great moments of American history.\u201d<\/p>\n

Huckabee said that American recognition of Israel as an independent nation not only influenced other countries, but was also a bold move by Truman who, he says, \u201cnever doubted, never wavered\u201d in his support for the emerging state.<\/p>\n

\"AA telegram sent by president Harry S. Truman recognizing the State of Israel holds a place of pride on the wall of the ambassador\u2019s Jerusalem office. (credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)<\/p>\n

Such unwavering support for Israel comes across from Huckabee, too, despite growing criticism of Israel and spiraling antisemitism back home, including among younger Evangelical Christians politically aligned with Trump. And even though actions by some in Israel clearly bothered this very Zionist ambassador.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think most people are upset [with Israel] because of what they think has happened, not what has happened,\u201d said Huckabee about virulent anti-Israel sentiment on both the extreme left and the extreme right in American society.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor example, I hear people say, \u2018Oh, what Israel has done in Gaza\u2026\u2019 and I want to say, \u2018You do understand that what Israel did in Gaza was a result of Hamas slaughtering and massacring 1,200 civilians, including 47 Americans, and then taking 250 people hostage and holding them, starving them, raping them, beating them, and in many cases killing them, all in captivity,\u201d explained the ambassador.<\/p>\n

\u201cIsrael has done nothing in Gaza that the US wouldn\u2019t have done,\u201d he continued. \u201cIf we\u2019d had 40,000 Americans murdered on one day, and about 10,000 taken hostage, then I can\u2019t even begin to imagine what the reaction in the United States would be.<\/p>\n

\u201cTruth and sunlight are great antiseptics to the disease of antisemitism,\u201d Huckabee told the Report, pointing out that \u201cmany Arab states have poured billions of dollars into Middle East study programs [in the US] to propagandize young minds\u2026 and social media influences have played into this. The truth is lost completely, and that\u2019s a tragedy.\u201d<\/p>\n

West Bank violence<\/p>\n

While Huckabee reserves his fiercest criticism for Hamas and its October 7, 2023, massacre, which he described as \u201cvicious, brutal, intentionally designed to not only inflict the most pain, but also the most humiliation that [their victims] could possibly experience,\u201d he is also quick to recognize the violence that has permeated the West Bank recently \u2013 much of it perpetrated by Israeli citizens against ordinary Palestinians.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst of all, there\u2019s a real misconception that violence in Judea and Samaria is all carried out by the people who live there; most of it is not even conducted by the people who actually live there and raise their families [there],\u201d stated Huckabee, referring to the territory by its biblical names.<\/p>\n

Most Israelis who live there, \u201cjust want to raise their families in peace. They don\u2019t want to steal someone\u2019s livestock or burn a house down, but it happens, and it often happens by hilltop youths who don\u2019t even live in the area,\u201d the ambassador said.<\/p>\n

However, he added: \u201cI don\u2019t call these people settlers\u2026 people who do that [to Palestinians] are \u2018unsettlers\u2019 and they are not representative of the half a million Israelis who live in Judea and Samaria.\u201d<\/p>\n

Describing it as \u201chorrific,\u201d Huckabee said, \u201cI [don\u2019t see] any difference between someone who commits an<\/p>\n

act of terror or a crime. It\u2019s the fact that they did it.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur interest at the embassy is that we have American citizens who live in some of these areas\u2026 Many are Palestinian Christians, so when someone either breaks into their homes, burns their field, or steals their livestock, we get involved and insist on a full-throated investigation and adjudication of those who are caught doing it. We\u2019ll continue to speak [out],\u201d he said, pointing out that the Israelis are taking some steps to address the problem, but \u201cI certainly want to see them get even better at it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump-Netanyahu tensions<\/p>\n

His criticism \u2013 and the recent tension between Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu around the deal with Iran \u2013 notwithstanding, Huckabee maintains that the US-Israel relationship is still incredibly strong.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnyone who thinks it is not probably doesn\u2019t understand it,\u201d he stated. \u201cDoes that mean that the prime minister and the president agree on everything? Of course not; most married couples don\u2019t agree on everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"HuckabeeHuckabee (C) and the Palestinian mayor of the village of Taybeh, Suleiman Khourieh (L), tour the fifth-century Church of St George in the Palestinian Christian village of Taybeh, northeast of Ramallah in July 2025, days after an arson attack on the church. (credit: JAAFAR ASHTIYEH\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

But, continued Huckabee, \u201cif you really are committed to each other, you work through your differences, you don\u2019t totally disagree to the point that you disengage\u2026 the idea that somehow the [US-Israel] relationship is fractured, that\u2019s just simply not true.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, in order to repair ties that have been impacted by more than two and a half years of war, Huckabee said he would like to see two things happen: \u201ca more aggressive pushback from Israel on every media platform\u2026\u201d and \u201cto encourage people to come to Israel, see it for themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the greatest thing that could happen for people from America to change their understanding of Israel is just for them to come,\u201d he urged. \u201cCome, look around, and ask questions. It doesn\u2019t matter to whom \u2013 Palestinian, Israeli \u2013 just talk to people, and you\u2019ll get different views\u2026 Try having a different view in many of these totalitarian Islamic countries and see how long that lasts.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not one of those who thinks it\u2019s all falling apart, and that we\u2019re circling the drain,\u201d Huckabee said. \u201cI do think we\u2019re going through a bumpy spot, not in the US-Israeli relationship \u2013 that, I think, is maybe stronger than it\u2019s ever been \u2013 but I do believe that there is a season that we\u2019re going through now, where the lack of credible information and the proliferation of media platforms that are so filled with distortions and untruths have influenced a generation.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I\u2019m also convinced that we\u2019re living in a time when people will start asking hard questions and getting answers, and people will travel more, and they\u2019ll come back and see this place more,\u201d he said.\u25a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cI don\u2019t think a lot of people understand that if there were not an Israel, there wouldn\u2019t be…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":734458,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,316101,5620,143210,12,316099,316100,101855,31671,316102,3,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":["post-734457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-american-israeli-relations","tag-benjamin-netanyahu","tag-christian-zionism","tag-donald-trump","tag-evangelical-support-for-israel","tag-jerusalem-report","tag-judaism","tag-mike-huckabee","tag-new-releases-exclusives","tag-news","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/734457","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=734457"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/734457\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/734458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=734457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=734457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=734457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}