Israel has had an atrocious week with regard to its relations with the Christian world.
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, an outspoken and dedicated Christian supporter of the Jewish state, fired off a seething letter to Interior Minister Moshe Arbel last Wednesday, threatening to publicly announce that Israel no longer welcomes Christian groups to Israel.
Israel “is instead engaging in harassment and negative treatment toward organizations with long-standing relationships and positive involvement toward Zionism and friendship to the Jewish people and the State of Israel,” the US envoy wrote in a missive that was leaked to Hebrew media, quite possibly by Huckabee’s office, the next day.
Huckabee also said he would encourage American Christians to reconsider any plans to visit Israel if visa issues were not resolved, and that he would take reciprocal action against Israelis seeking visas to the US.
The ambassador didn’t stop there.
On Saturday, Huckabee — who is also a Baptist minister — visited the Christian Palestinian town of Taybeh in the West Bank, the scene of repeated attacks by settlers. In one such incident last week, some set fire to the fields around the ruins of the historic Church of St. George and a nearby cemetery.
Read the full article at the Times of Israel.
Published originally on July 21, 2025.
