U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee clarified Tuesday that no damage was done to a church in the Palestinian Christian town of Taybeh, despite earlier reports — though he still condemned violence against the town.
Huckabee had earlier visited the town in solidarity with its Christian population after reports of a mob of Jewish extremists committing acts of violence and vandalism there. As Breitbart News reported, Huckabee made clear that the violence was unacceptable — though he was careful to avoid identifying perpetrators.
Earlier, Huckabee had argued with Israeli officials about the processing of visas from Christian evangelical groups. An exchange of letters was leaked in which Huckabee appeared to threaten public criticism of Israel’s treatment of the groups. The issue was resolved and Huckabee has since adopted a conciliatory approach.
There have been recent tensions in relations between Israel and several Christian denominations, especially after a Catholic church in Gaza was hit by an Israeli tank shell during combat, killing three and wounding roughly ten other people. Israel expressed regret for the incident, which it said had been an accident, though the Pope implied that the Vatican considered it a deliberate “attack” in his public comments on the matter.
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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