If there’s anyone who doesn’t need an introduction to Israel, it’s the new US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee.
The 69-year-old former Arkansas governor and two-time presidential candidate has, by his own account, visited Israel scores of times since his first trip to the Holy Land after he finished high school just before the 1973 Yom Kippur War.
A conservative, Envangelical pastor, Huckabee has led thousands of participants on solidarity missions to Israel over the decades and has long identified with those Israelis who support continued and developed sovereignty in Judea and Samaria as the biblical heartland of the Jewish people.
Huckabee, who was confirmed by the US Senate for his post last week by a vote of 53-46, is expected to present his credentials on Monday to President Isaac Herzog.
It might be said every time a new US ambassador begins his posting in Israel – but it’s really not an understatement – that Huckabee is beginning his tenure as ambassador with the most critical issues facing the US and Israel.
On Friday, he referred to three of those issues, which will likely take up much of his focus as he hits the ground running: the Gaza war, the return of the Israeli hostages, and the Iranian threat.
A day after landing in Israel, the new ambassador visited the Western Wall, and, as is customary for many, placed a note in a crack between two stones – this one from his boss, President Donald Trump.
“He wrote that with his own hand last Thursday and he sent me to place it here, so I do so with the best wishes of the president,” Huckabee told reporters.
Accompanied by the rabbi of the Western Wall, Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch, he said, “I can think of nothing I’d rather do than present a prayer from the President of the United States on behalf of the American people for the peace of Jerusalem,” adding that it’s Trump’s prayer that all the hostages held in Gaza captivity should be returned home now.
“And we will bring them home,” he said, adding that Trump has shown “extraordinary love for the Jewish people and the people of Israel,” such as moving the US Embassy to Jerusalem and recognizing the Golan Heights.
Huckabee also made a point of emphasizing that Iran would never possess nuclear weapons and that the country posed a threat not just to Israel but also to the US.
Those are all words that Israelis, no matter their political affiliation or feeling about Evangelical Christian support of the Jewish state, can get behind.
Previous US ambassadors to Israel
Huckabee will likely be a high-profile ambassador in the vein of Tom Nides, who seemed to be everywhere and anywhere in the country during his tenure between 2021 and 2023.
That approach would be in contrast to Jack Lew, Nides’ successor – and Huckabee’s predecessor – who kept a very low profile during his tenure.
Despite his staunch identification with the diplomatic stance of the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Huckabee has made it clear that his personal preferences will take a back seat while he’s ambassador.
During his confirmation hearings last month, he made a point of telling lawmakers that, as ambassador, he would “carry out the president’s priorities, not mine.”
That cautionary note, especially with issues coming up regarding the talks with Iran or the continuation of the war in Gaza, in which the US and Israel’s interest may diverge, may come into play sooner than later.
Hopefully, Huckabee will be savvy enough to realize that Israel is a deeply divided country in regards to the hostages and the continuation of the war in Gaza.
It would be a mistake to only meet with those that share the government’s views, and Huckabee’s first task should be to learn as much as he can and meet with Israelis of every ilk.
Many Israelis across the political spectrum, including the families of the hostages still languishing in Gaza, see the Trump administration as their main advocate in trying to return the captives and defeat Hamas.
As Trump’s eyes and ears on the ground in Israel, Huckabee’s role is going to be vital. Too much is at stake for an ambassador who is inefficient or partisan. Hopefully, America’s new one will prove to be neither.
We wish him well in his new position and give full support for all US efforts to return the hostages home.