JERUSALEM, Israel –This week, like many weeks, has been a tumultuous one in Israel. From reports of a split between President Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to new security threats against Israel by Hamas and questions over what constitutes the disarming of the terror group, to the virtual collapse of Israel supporters in the Democratic Party.
CBN News had the opportunity to sit down with the U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee. We asked him about a number of topics on Israel’s front burner.
You can watch our interview on Friday’s 700 Club.
The text of the interview is below.
***Please sign up for CBN Newsletters and download the CBN News app to ensure you receive the latest news from a Christian perspective.***
CHRIS MITCHELL: Ambassador Mike Huckabee, it’s great to be with you. Thanks for joining us.
AMBASSADOR HUCKABEE: Thank you, Chris. Great always to be with you.
CM: Ambassador, there have been many reports of tension and a rift between Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Trump.
You’ve been in the room with them. What’s the story?
AMH: There’s not a rift, and I have been in the room. I’ve been on calls, and I’ve been with them individually before or after the calls. There is honest conversation between two leaders who actually get along quite well.
They don’t agree all the time, on everything. But I tell people I’ve been married 52 years. My wife and I don’t agree on everything all the time. But it doesn’t mean that our relationship is shattered by the fact that we have enough, I guess, common ground that we can be honest with each other.
It’s refreshing that you have two leaders who are personal enough in their relationship that they can be honest with each other. So the idea that they’re mad at each other or that there’s a split, I would just tell you, categorically, that’s not true.
CM: We’re seeing an erosion of support for Israel, seeing it in the Democratic Party, in the DSA (Democratic Socialists of America), and some of the candidates that have won just in the last few days in the primaries. What’s your concern about this rise of anti-Israel sentiment?
AMH: Well, first of all, it concerns me that it is a… real effort to deny a biblical connection; that’s of concern to me as a believer.
As a diplomat, my concern is that it is lacking context and it’s lacking truth. Because for people to have this sense of “Israel doesn’t matter,” or that it’s okay to be irrationally hateful toward Jewish people, that is… that is a concern because there is a very important thing that Americans tend to miss, and that is that Israel and America’s relationship – it’s about technology and military hardware and intelligence and all those things.
But more than any of that, it is about the shared values of a Judeo-Christian foundation upon which America was built. And without that foundation, there would never have been an America.
CM: Antisemitism, Jew hatred, has risen exponentially since October 7th. What is your concern for the Jewish people in America and around the world? And how should evangelicals stand with Israel and the Jewish people right now?
AMH: Sure, I think it’s the, the greatest anxiety that Jewish people should have right now is that everything that they thought would never happen again, and the cry after the Holocaust was “Never again.” And here we are. We’re seeing it again. And it’s almost the same pattern. And the word anti-Semitic – I know we use it a lot. I’ve decided not to use it as much because I think people are numb to it and it just becomes this nebulous term. They really don’t know what that means. I just use the term, it’s Jew hatred, as you just did, because I feel like that’s really what it comes down to, people hating Jews.
And if you ask yourself why, then you come to the conclusion it’s irrational. But where do they get this? They get it from TikTok, and they get it from Twitter and Instagram. They get it from so-called influencers, many of whom are paid handsomely by foreign governments to present these messages. From bots that are created in foreign countries, whether it’s Qatar, Russia, China, all to create division and consternation among younger people who don’t have the frame of reference, who may not have the benefit of getting news from sources that are edited and carefully vetted. These are just sources that come from anywhere.
CM: You’ve seen a lot here. You’ve seen war in Gaza, war with Iran. You’ve been in bomb shelters. Looking forward, what gives you hope?
AMH: My hope is built on something far bigger than any document that human beings could sign. And it’s the document that God gave us, the Bible – His word. And when I read it, and I believe it to be not just true, but infallibly true – can’t be amended, can’t be changed. Can’t be changed or altered.
And that book is the solid rock on which I think we can all stand and say, well, you know, I don’t know how things are going in the (middle) of the fourth quarter, but I know when the final whistle sounds, we come off this field victorious. And I’m okay with that.
CM: Ambassador Huckabee, thanks so much.
AMH: Thank you, Chris. Been my pleasure.”
