U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee has been arguing with Israeli authorities about delays in the granting of tourist visas to some evangelical groups, threatening to say Israel no longer welcomes Christians.
The surprising disagreement leaked Thursday in the Israeli media, after Ynetnews reported on a letter from Huckabee to Israeli interior minister Moshe Arbel, and the Times of Israel reported on Arbel’s response.
Ynet reported:
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee warned in a letter he sent to Interior Minister Moshe Arbel Wednesday that the Americans could make it harder for Israelis to get visas.
“This is not the relationship Israel wants to have with its best partner and friend,” Huckabee wrote in the letter, which came against the backdrop of what he described as difficulties the Interior Ministry is facing in granting visas to Christian organizations and workers operating in Israel.
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“As the U.S. Ambassador representing President Donald Trump, I am formally demanding that this deteriorating relationship with the Department of State be resolved so that this matter does not escalate further,” Huckabee added. “It would be deeply regrettable if our embassy were to be forced to publicly announce throughout the United States that the State of Israel no longer welcomes Christian organizations and their representatives and that ,instead, it is engaging in harassment and negative treatment of organizations with longstanding ties and positive engagement with Zionism. We will be further obligated to warn Christians in America that their generous donations to organizations in Israel are being met with hostility, and that tourists should reconsider travel until the situation is clearly resolved.”
The Times of Israel reported:
After receiving the letter, Arbel — of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party — responded, saying that he was “particularly surprised” by the way in which the envoy raised his concerns.
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“In my view, this course of action deviates from accepted working norms and does not reflect the direct and constructive relationship we have established, he said, adding that the relationship between the two countries is “among the most valued and significant partnerships.”
“I greatly appreciate your consistent support for Israel and your steadfast commitment to our partnership. For this reason, I believe it is incumbent upon us to act in a spirit of coordination, mutual trust, and respect — even when misunderstandings or difficulties arise,” Arbel concluded.
The exchange came as Israel has received new criticism from Christian groups over several incidents, including an accident Wednesday in which an Israeli shell fragment hit a Catholic church in Gaza, killing three; and the recent beating death of a Palestinian-American Christian by a mob of extremist Jewish settlers, which drew public condemnation from Huckabee himself.
Recently, Israel has been the target of unusual attacks from portions of the American right, even as it has become used to radical protests from the left. Some of the conservative attacks have had a religious tinge, accusing Israel of harming Christians.
Publicly, Huckabee has maintained that he feels deeply welcomed by the people of Israel — and he remains broadly popular among Israelis, which is why Thursday’s leak of correspondence surprised many observers.
It is not clear why Israel may have sought to review some of the tourist visas. Israel is very sensitive about the subject of Christian proselytization, given the history in previous centuries of Christian persecution of Jews.
Minister Arbel is thought to be one of the most circumspect and careful of the ultra-Orthodox members of his party, respected even by left-wing opponents for his efforts to strengthen Israeli constitutional norms.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of Trump 2.0: The Most Dramatic ‘First 100 Days’ in Presidential History, available for Amazon Kindle. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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