Mike Huckabee’s journey to becoming the U.S. ambassador to Israel began 50 years ago.
The former Arkansas governor, presidential candidate and Fox News host first visited Israel with a friend on a tour of the Middle East not long after graduating from high school. “This is a place I’d never been, but I felt at home,” Huckabee dijo in a podcast interview at the National Religious Broadcasters convention earlier this year, about his experience as a teen.
“I felt an overwhelming spiritual reality of understanding this is the land that God has given to the Jews,” he told Paul Lanier, board chair of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, for the “Nourish Your Biblical Roots” podcast.
Huckabee said he began hosting his own tours of Israel in the 1980s and has visited the country more than 100 times. He’s a longtime supporter of pro-Israel groups like IFCJ — a nonprofit that seeks to strengthen ties between Christians and Jews and does humanitarian work in Israel — and has helped raise money for the group.
Huckabee has also long articulated staunchly pro-Israel political views. As a candidate for president in 2008, Huckabee said he believed there is “no such thing as a Palestinian,” según CNN. He argued that the very concept of Palestinian identity is “a political tool to try and force land away from Israel.”
Your tax-deductible gift supports our mission of reporting the truth and restoring the church. Donate $50 or more to The Roys Report this month, and you can elect to receive “Saving Face: Finding My Self, God, and One Another Outside a Defaced Church” by Aimee Byrd, haga clic aquí.
When he ran for president again in 2015, he held a fundraiser in one of the Israeli settlements in the West Bank, which are considered illegal under international law.
In his conversation with Lanier, Huckabee compared the origin of Israel to the founding of the United States, saying both were started by people who moved to a new land to find peace and security. He also said the growth of Israel since 1948 is like biblical prophecies come true.
“I’ve seen Scripture come to life,” he said. “The desert has bloomed before my eyes.”
If confirmed by the Senate, Huckabee may be the first political appointee — as opposed to interim career foreign service officers — to come to the U.S. Embassy in Israel from a group known as Christian Zionists, who back Israel for theological as well as geopolitical reasons. (The current U.S. ambassador is Jack Lew, an American Jew who served as secretary of the Treasury under Barack Obama.)
Many Christian Zionists are millenarianists — they view the creation of the modern state of Israel as a necessary precondition for the second coming of Jesus and the apocalyptic purification of the world in the end times. Israel, along with the occupied territories it captured in 1967, is considered given by God to the biblical patriarch Abraham, who is told in the Book of Genesis, “God will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you.”
Huckabee’s own biblical approach to Israel shows up in his habit of referring to the West Bank as “Judea and Samaria” — a way of signaling a belief that the land has always belonged to the Jewish people.
That divine patrimony, believers say, should shape how nations, including the United States, treat Israel and how individual Christians should view the nation. Over the past 30 years, evangelicals, including Southern Baptists like Huckabee, but also growing groups of charismatic nondenominational Christians, have duly formed strong alliances with Israeli leaders and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in particular.
They give more to Israeli causes than Jewish Americans do and have formed strong support groups. With 5 million members, Christians United for Israel, led by San Antonio pastor John Hagee, is thought to be the largest pro-Israel nonprofit in the United States. In 2017, when then-President Donald Trump moved the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, the move was applauded by Christian Zionist supporters, and Hagee spoke at the dedication of the new embassy.
Mordechai Inbari, a professor of religion at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, said Huckabee’s appointment as U.S. ambassador to Israel would be greeted “with open arms” by the Netanyahu government. “Huckabee belongs to the network of supporters of Netanyahu and his government among evangelicals and is considered to be a strong supporter of Israel,” said Inbari.
Huckabee was pressed by Israeli radio Wednesday (Nov. 13) on whether he believed the Trump administration would support annexation by Israel of the occupied territories, principally the West Bank, but also Gaza. He demurred but made it clear that he sees his job as following the decisions made by the president.
“There’s never been an American president,” he added, “that has been more helpful in securing an understanding of the sovereignty of Israel — from the moving of the embassy, recognition of the Golan Heights, and Jerusalem as the capital, no one has done more than president Trump and I fully expect that will continue,” Huckabee said.
Inbari, for one, didn’t think the new Trump administration would rush to see Israel annex the territories. Trump has shown a desire to expand the Mideast peace deal known as the Abraham Accords, inked in his first administration, to include Saudi Arabia. The accords, signed in 2020, normalized Israeli relations with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, and later Sudan and Morocco.
Israel and Saudi Arabia appeared close to a deal in 2023, but the negotiations were derailed by the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel. Saudi Arabia now insists it will only normalize ties with Israel if there is a pathway for a Palestinian state, which the Israeli government currently rejects.
“I think Trump would want peace with Saudi Arabia rather than Israel annexing the West Bank,” said Inbari. “And so I don’t think that this is something that’s going to happen.”
Yael Eckstein, president of the IFCJ, who traveled to Israel with Huckabee earlier this year to deliver humanitarian aid there, said the former governor has the best interests of the United States and Israel at heart and she views his new role as ambassador as a good thing.
“I think it’s wonderful news, not just for Israel, but for America and the entire world,” she said. “Because I think the stronger Israel and America are in their bond and relationship, the stronger the entire world is.”
Luke Moon, executive director of the Philos Project, a pro-Israel group, likewise called Huckabee a good choice. Moon cited Huckabee’s past support for Israel and the fact that as an evangelical, he’s not involved in the internal politics of the American Jewish community.
Moon also said that the Oct. 7 Hamas attack and the war in Gaza — and the campus protests in the U.S. against that war — likely played a role in the 2024 election.
Whether people were voting for Israel or they were opposed to pro-Palestinian protesters on college campuses, said Moon, “either way I’ll take it.”
Brent Leatherwood, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, said he was encouraged that Huckabee was one of the first ambassadors to be named by Trump.
“That shows that Israel is top of mind for President-elect Trump,” he said. “I think that is a good thing.”
Bob Smietana, Yonat Shimron, and Jack Jenkins are national reporters for Religion News Service.
Spanish 
English
20 Responses
“I’ve seen Scripture come to life, he said. “The desert has bloomed before my eyes”
Are we to assume then that many people and aspects of Israeli society are somewhat open to the gospels and that others have placed their faith in Christ to the extent that Kingdom values which Jesus emphasized and live out – love, grace, humility, forgiveness, selfless service, contentment – are now likewise openly expressed and lived out?
Are we to assume that Palestinian Christians have been warmly embraced by many people and that there is a general willingness to build some rapport with the men, woman and children of Palestinian background?
Is the “desert blooming before my eyes” a poetic theological analogy for, ‘Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven?’
As a long-time citizen of Israel with access to Hebrew media, my answer to all your questions is the same: “Yes.” Though you won’t see these amazing changes reported in US media (except occasionally on CBN and TBN).
Your last question, BTW, shows a lack of awareness that the desert blooming (and many other concrete prophecies about the ancient Land of Israel) are being fulfilled literally, not just as spiritual analogy. If you can’t personally visit Israel, you can learn about these through online searches.
As a candidate for president in 2008, Huckabee said he believed there is “no such thing as a Palestinian,” according to CNN. He argued that the very concept of Palestinian identity is “a political tool to try and force land away from Israel.”
How does Huckabee square this with the fact of Palestinian Christians whose families have lived on the land for centuries, long before the 1948 establishment of the Jewish state? Bethlehem Bible College?
Huckabee is aware of the historical facts.
For 400 years “Palestine” spanned both sides of the Jordan River and was considered southern Syria. Read a factual history here:
https://www.hudson.org/node/44363
First, Britain violated their Mandate (to create a Jewish homeland in all of Palestine, which spanned the Jordan River), by forbidding the Jews to settle in Eastern Palestine (later renamed Transjordan), while the Arabs were free to settle in both Eastern and Western Palestine. When Mandate authorities tried to call them all Palestinians – the Arabs replied that they were “Syrians” or alternately “part of the Greater Arab Nation”. Thus, “Palestinian” originally referred only to the Jews living in Western Palestine.
Palestinian nationalism only began in the 1920s as a response to Zionism (Jewish nationalism). And even then it was a fringe minority. Until 1948, when USSR leader Stalin got involved. A good explanation of the historical evidence is here:
https://youtu.be/pZLDnqDJ0x0
It is illegal for residents in Israel do take a DNA test. Because it would prove they are Ashkenazi Jews from Eastern Europe and have zero claim to the land being not descendants of Abraham or any 12 tribes. The Zionist leaders use deception as their warfare. especially over evangelicals like Huckabee . who is a victim of indoctrination of the Scofield bible and Scofields handler Samuel Untermyer. The Scofield futurists premillennial theology is not scriptural . Jesus broke down the wall between Jew and gentile . Not established it. They destroy the work of Christ at Calvary and make the modern state of Israel their god. These Christian Zionists like Huckabee will promote war ,and destruction . They turn a blind eye to the slaughter of Christian Palestinians and Muslims. Women and children. Babies. What has happened to them? Cult followers. Certainly Not the peacemakers Jesus called his followers to be. . Whtt.org explains it very well.
Barbara, I don’t know where you got the idea that Israelis are not allowed to do DNA tests. That is patently false. So is the idea that Jewish identity is genetic to begin with.
Do you have any idea how many converts to Judaism there are in the world – a tradition since Bible days? Even King David didn’t have “pure Jewish” DNA! Can you guess how many Israelis are descendants of Jewish-Gentile intermarriage, just like he was?
Re. Yeshua breaking down the wall between Jew and Gentile, do you think that makes every believer into a Gentile? Yet the apostle Paul was emphatic about his Jewish identity, which didn’t go *poof* after he met the Lord. To the end of his life (Acts 28) he still identified as a Jew… and a faithful one at that. Unless you want to accuse him of lying to the Roman Jews.
Far as your political comments are concerned, I recommend doing an online search with the question: ‘Which Middle Eastern country is the safest place for Christians today?’
(Spoiler: it’s not Palestine, where Christians are legally second-class and fair game for abuse by Muslims.)
Todays Jewish identity is not genetic. It is the Talmud. Because the geneologies of the 12 tribes were destroyed by Herod and the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple 70 AD. No one can claim they are the original 12 tribes . But the inhabitants of Israel claim they are the chosen people of God. and The descendants of Abraham and are using the book of Deuteronomy to wage the law of destruction against the amelekites they call the Palestinians. Netanyahu said as much on MSM. They use the war of Jericho as endorsement they can kill man, woman and child because God ordered them to. Pure gaslighting. And they deserve greater Israel and uses terrorist methods to do so. Tell me what source you have where Israelis do DNA tests. They are deceived and deceiving the poor Christian Zionists into endorsing their mass killing efforts against innocent peoples. Read Christopher Bollyn “ solving 911, the deception that changed the world” and Illan Pappe “ the ethnic cleansing of Palestine “ to see what faux Israel really is.
Barbara asked, “Tell me what source you have where Israelis do DNA tests.”
This source not only explains where and how Israelis do DNA testing, it also explains how and where that false rumor started in the first place.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/fact-check-no-dna-tests-230000258.html
That rumor started with the sole purpose of denying that Israelis are Jews.
Yet the Muslim countries expelled close to 900,000 of their citizens because they KNEW who the Jews were. (Did you know that more than half the Israeli population did not come from Europe or the West?)
As far as the charge that Israelis “use the war of Jericho as endorsement they can kill man, woman and child because God ordered them to…” How do you explain 2.1 million Arab Israelis with equal rights the same as the Jews?
Looking forward to your replies.
“Did Jesus authorize you to call him Yeshua? “ No. video. Yeshua is a curse word in the Talmud. Yeshua is not Jesus of scripture. yes, Jew and gentile are one body in Christ. Which means dispensational theology cannot be defended scripturally. after Christ broke down the dividing wall between Jew And gentile , there will be no future 1,000 years where the Jews are back in an earthly country ruling the gentiles. Ain’t so! That is racial supremacy Jesus despises.
Barbara Disbrow,
Would you have some sources for these wild, vitriolic claims? Thanks.
Barbara asked (and then answered herself): “Did Jesus authorize you to call him Yeshua? No. video. [sic] Yeshua is a curse word in the Talmud. Yeshua is not Jesus of scripture.”
Wrong on three counts. because whoever taught you these ideas doesn’t know Hebrew.
1- “Jesus” is not Hebrew at all, it’s a Greek transliteration of His Hebrew name spelled out in English. Any Bible scholar can tell you that.
2- His disciples and enemies alike called him “Yeshua” and that’s His name in the Hebrew New Testament. It’s also the name of a famous high priest, mentioned repeatedly in Ezra 2 (written as “Jeshua” because that’s how translators rendered the Hebrew letter yud).
3- The Talmud called Him “Yeshu” – without the last letter, and that IS a curse (a Hebrew acronym meaning “may his name and memory be erased”). But most Israelis thought this was His actual name. After learning the truth, many Hebrew speakers are starting to revert to His real name, which is actually the Hebrew word for “Salvation”.
BTW the Jews don’t expect to be “ruling the Gentiles,” not now or ever. They expect the Jewish Messiah, Son of David, to rule over both Israel and the nations at the End of Days, based on the prophet Isaiah.
It’s actually the NT (Rev. 20) which says that certain people (redeemed Jews and Gentiles) will rule with Him “for a thousand years”. And in the NT He is also called “Messiah, Son of David”.
You should have no argument with these, seeing they are in your Bible.
Two points of fact:
1- Huckabee’s “habit of referring to the West Bank as Judea and Samaria” is not merely “a belief that the land has always belonged to the Jewish people.” It’s also a long-overdue correction of a historical fallacy.
The name “West Bank” was coined by the Jordanians in 1948 when they invaded that region in an act of aggression, and for the next 19 years illegally occupied it. That move was accepted by only 3 nations in the world, yet their renaming of the territories was universally accepted (go figure).
The Jordanians began their occupation by forcibly ejecting all Jews from eastern Jerusalem, and destroying synagogues and Jewish cemeteries. The Egyptians also ejected all the Jews when they occupied the Gaza Strip. In any other context besides this one, those acts would have been globally condemned as ethnic cleansing in violation of international law. But I digress.
2- The Israeli presence in those territories is not “considered illegal under international law.” It’s considered illegal *by international consensus* – which is not at all the same.
Here is a concise outline of the legal background, the existence of which the international community can’t seem to remember – let alone honestly discuss it.
https://www.regavim.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Israeli-settlement-in-JS-through-prism-of-intl-law.pdf
Thus, Israel has the right to revert to the Jewish names for the region, since the Jewish state has the strongest claim to it under international law.
I am Israeli and a person who believes the Scriptures and I believe this man is the very worst kind of ambassador we could have. He will help us to entrench ourselves in the horrors we are perpetrating on the Arab people. It is the opposite of blessing. When a person is a true friend who wants to bless someone they help them to see the disastrous and deadly road they are on and help them to repent and turn to God for help and to His ways for direction.
Karen, could you give examples of “the horrors we are perpetrating on the Arab people”?
I remember you from KNI, and back in 2017 you posted articles there about Israeli efforts to help its Arab citizens, as well as Palestinians and even the Syrians.
You also wrote about the dangers of Hamas and Fatah uniting to wipe out ‘the Zionist enemy’ — an alliance which has caused horrific suffering, for us Israelis and for peace-loving Palestinians alike.
What in your view has changed since then?
Asking honestly, not from antagonism.
Hi Hannah, it is not that our government changed its policy toward the Arabs, it hasn’t. It is that I decided to get honest, to reject our government’s insistence that anyone who criticizes Israeli policy toward the Palestinians is a traitor, and to look in the face what I knew was happening all along but could not bear to look. I can’t look away anymore. You know where to look. Just look.
Karen Faulkner,
Hamas hasn’t changed its policy towards Jews. Its charter has always called for the murder of every last Israeli, and I know you know that. If you don’t care about that, think about simple free speech. Think about the mere fact that you are free to write the venom you do against your fellow citizens in Israel without any fear of retribution. Can you imagine opining on the internet against the regime if you lived in Gaza, Iran, Saudi Arabia, or nearly anywhere else in the Arab/Muslim sharia world with the possible exception of Jordan? I think not, and I suspect that you know that, but who wants to let facts get in the way of a good virtue-signal?
Okay Karen, so as you say, let’s look at that idea in the face.
If “anyone who criticizes Israeli policy toward the Palestinians is a traitor,” what consequences do they suffer?
How was Haneen Zoabi able to remain a Knesset Member after calling Bibi a “fascist”, Hamas a valid negotiating partner, and the IDF a bunch of “murderers”? When her Knesset colleagues voted to ban her from re-election, our Supreme Court overruled their vote 8 to 1.
How is Shawan Jabarin, head of the NGO Al-Haq, walking free despite his ties to terrorist groups, and his endorsement of Hamas? The links were so solid that the major credit card companies in the USA shut down money transfers to Al-Haq. Yet all Israel did was ban him from traveling abroad – and even that restriction broke down under international pressure.
How is the NGO Adalah able to constantly bash Israel with false charges of genocide and apartheid, from their office in Haifa? In 2019 they invited convicted PFLP terrorist Abdel Razeq Farraj to their summer youth camps, and still no retaliation by Israel.
If you like, I can list my sources for all the above.
Please do the investigation of both sides as expected in real journalism!
I’m really appreciating Hannah’s responses, as I have been cautious about developing a strong viewpoint about the conflict in the Middle East due to my admitted ignorance of its full complexity.
I do have a few questions:
1. I have heard the term “ethnic” Jews (versus “religious” Jews), implying that there is in fact an ethnicity that is reflected in one’s DNA. An example of this difference would be someone being Israeli versus someone who practices Judaism. Is this inaccurate? I noticed that you said above it is a patently false idea that Jewish identity is genetic to begin with. Did you mean SOLELY genetic? If not, how would the Egyptian expulsion of Jews be an ethnic cleansing (versus religious persecution)?
2. Is the nation of Israel (as referred to in Biblical scripture) presumed to be the same as the political state of Isreal referred to in modern times? It was my understanding that they are not the same – but they are not mutually exclusive.
I am asking out of curiosity and ask for any grace if my questions are clumsy.
Oh, and there aren’t any American Jews for this role?
Thank you Marin – and yeah, those are confusing terms. I can only give you my best understanding.
1- The idea of “ethnic” Jews isn’t based on genetics. It’s about cultural loyalty without religion. No need to accept the Bible or the God described there, it’s just community history. And sometimes it’s only cultural memory: “My family background is/was Jewish,” with no commitment to pass Jewish identity to one’s children, and no interest in even remaining Jewish.
Yes, we speak of mass expulsions of Jews as “ethnic cleansing”. But that doesn’t help, because our definition of “ethnic cleansing” applies to racial, cultural and religious groups. (Jews are included no matter what.)
To make things more confusing, Jewish identity is not like any other “ethnicity” in the world. You can choose to become part of the Jewish people by conversion (so it can’t be genetic) — yet if you do, all your descendants are Jews without choosing it (so it does look genetic).
2- I think you have it basically right, just with more overlap. God promised that the same “people” He removed from the Land of Israel (for their sin) He would “bring back to their Land” (for His Name’s sake). He also said He would bring them back in a spiritually unclean condition. If modern Israel is not the (initial?) fulfillment, it’s hard to imagine what would be.
Re. your last question… American Jews don’t necessarily “get” Israelis. The Middle East is another planet. But Bible believers have an advantage, because they acknowledge the spiritual war we are in. We’ll see how well Huckabee does.
Thank you very much for your insightful response.