U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee has offered rare criticism of Israel in recent days, after violence carried out by a small group of Jewish extremists against Taybeh, a Palestinian Christian village in Samaria.
Last week, Huckabee protested on X against the “terrorist” killing of a Palestinian-American Christian. And on Saturday, Huckabee went to the village itself, visiting Taybeh and showing solidarity with its residents.
Huckabee’s criticism stings in a way no one else’s could. Not only is he a steadfast supporter of Israel, but he has also has argued in the past that all of Judea and Samaria — including, presumably, Taybeh — should be under Israeli sovereignty.
His is not the criticism of someone who hates Israel, or someone trying to embarrass Israel, or pressure Israel to give up territory. It is the kind of criticism only a true friend can offer.
Most Israelis love Christians and have a deep appreciation for Christian support for the Jewish state. That includes settlers in the disputed territories of the West Bank, most of whom prefer to get along with their Palestinian neighbors, Christian and Muslim.
The local priest, Father Jack-Nobel Abed of the Greek Melkite Catholic Church, told the media that until recently, there had been good relations with local Jewish settlers.
The problem appears to have been caused by a specific group of settlers. Not much is known about them yet from media accounts, but the phenomenon is quite familiar to Israelis.
For years, a small group of settlers, often called “hilltop youth,” have sought to take control of territory on their own, defying Israeli law and pushing out local Palestinians. They have no qualms about confronting Israeli police or the Israeli military.
Israel has struggled to deal with this phenomenon for a variety of reasons, the most important of which is the overarching conflict with the Palestinians.
It is politically difficult for any Israeli government, left or right, to confront fellow Jews in defense of Palestinians when other Palestinians are murdering Jews and holding Israelis hostage. That is especially true of the Netanyahu government, which includes far-right parties.
Israel has confronted settlers in the past — and not just extremists, but also the peaceful settlers of several communities in Gaza, which were forcibly uprooted in 2005 in the so-called “disengagement.” The memories of those clashes are painful — all the more so because the settlers were later proven right: abandoning Gaza later allowed Hamas to take over and to turn the area into a terrorist nightmare, leading to the present war.
Still, the Jewish extremists are a threat to Israel — not just because they damage Israel’s image in the eyes of the Christian world, but also because they undermine the rule of law within Israel itself.
In fact, the conflict between secular and religious Jews — including a dispute about whether religious students should be drafted, like almost everyone else, into the military — is a massive threat to Israel’s unity, and ultimately its security.
Huckabee knows that Israel cares deeply about Christians. He also knows that he has unique moral authority, having represented the United States as the Trump administration assisted Israel in defeating Iran, the most dangerous enemy the Jewish state has faced in its existence.
With the threat from Iran receding, Huckabee has the diplomatic space in which to criticize Israel — and to challenge it to live up to its own laws and ideals.
In criticizing Israel, Huckabee is giving Israel’s government political cover against its right-wing critics to act against the extremist settlers. He is also potentially helping Israel in three other ways.
First, he is showing that there is no need for a separate Palestinian “consulate” in Jerusalem — that the U.S. Ambassador to Israel is capable of outreach to Palestinians without the need for a separate diplomatic mission that would divide the capital.
Second, Huckabee is affirming the trust President Donald Trump placed in a pro-Israel ambassador, despite criticism from anti-Israel Democrats. Huckabee said during his Senate confirmation hearing that he would represent “the president’s priorities,” and not necessarily his own pro-Israel views, including on the issue of Judea and Samaria. In his criticism on Taybeh, Huckabee has fulfilled that commitment, defying the critics.
Of course, for Huckabee, there probably is no contradiction between standing up for Palestinian Christians and standing up for Israel. That leads to a third advantage for Israel in his criticism: Huckabee is showing fellow Christians that supporting Israel does not mean giving up any aspect of Christianity. That is a rebuke to newly-emergent right-wing voices who claim Christians who support Israel have abandoned their faith.
Above all, however, Huckabee’s criticism presents an opportunity for Israel to listen.
When he was first nominated, Huckabee cited the prophet Isaiah as his inspiration for taking the job. Isaiah predicted Israel’s salvation — but he also criticized Israel’s leaders when they went astray. Huckabee is living up to that example, and offering the kind of straight talk that only one who truly loves Israel and the Jewish people can provide.
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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