By Daoud Kuttab
It remains unclear whether former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee will make any meaningful difference in his new role as U.S. Ambassador to Israel. A former Baptist pastor, Huckabee appears to view his diplomatic assignment through a messianic lens, driven by a Christian Zionist ideology that, if taken to its theological conclusion, envisions end-times events in which many of the very Israeli Jews he claims to support would perish.
Despite his professed desire to assist Israel in asserting dominance over Palestinian lands—lands with rightful Muslim and Christian heritage—his beliefs are deeply rooted in a politicized religious narrative. Huckabee, who is filling a political role for a country traditionally founded on the separation of church and state, uses rhetoric steeped in right-wing Israeli terminology.
At his Senate confirmation hearing, Huckabee claimed that his personal beliefs would not influence his duties as ambassador. Whether that promise can be trusted is debatable, but actions speak louder than words.
“I am not here to articulate or defend my own views or policies, but to present myself as one who will respect and represent the president, whose overwhelming election by the people will hopefully give me the honor of serving as ambassador to the state of Israel,” Huckabee said in his opening statement.
Some senators questioned his past rhetoric about Palestinians, deemed “extreme” by even some pro-Israel groups and contradicting longstanding U.S. policy in the region.
The former Arkansas governor acknowledged his past support for Israel’s right to annex the West Bank and incorporate its Palestinian population into Israel but said it would not be his “prerogative” to carry out that policy. “If confirmed, it will be my responsibility to carry out the president’s priorities, not mine,” Huckabee said in response to Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley’s questions.
Nevertheless, Huckabee did let a few things revealing his ideology slip through in the confirmation hearing. He declared, “We ultimately are people of the book. We believe the Bible. And therefore, that connection is not geopolitical. It is also spiritual.” That line was not ignored.
Writing in Newsweek under the headline “Huckabee Shows the Danger of Mixing Theology and Politics,” American Palestinian Pastor Fares Abraham wrote that this “single line reveals a worldview that equates modern Israel with Biblical Israel—and views the former’s politics as divinely mandated.”
Fares argued that “confirming Mike Huckabee sent the opposite message: that U.S. diplomacy is no longer anchored in truth or compassion, but in ideology masquerading as faith. An ambassador’s role is to build bridges—not to hasten the apocalypse.”
Add to that, and despite his statements under oath not to let his personal theological beliefs interfere with his duties, Huckabee’s conduct after confirmation suggests otherwise.
In his first public appearance, the former pastor posted on X a photo after a dinner he and his wife had with the Israeli leader, Prime Minister Netanyahu, who is wanted for war crimes, and his wife, both of whom are facing criminal charges dealing with morality and corrupt actions.
Huckabee’s first public visit was not to a political institution but to a religious site: the Western Wall. Notably, he came bearing a handwritten prayer reportedly authored by the president of the United States. The prayer called for the “peace of Israel,” not “peace in Israel”—a subtle but telling phrase. True peace involves mutual cessation of hostilities between two parties, but in the ideological world of a pastor-turned-politician-turned-theologian-turned-ambassador, there seems to be little acknowledgment of the Palestinian people at all.
His highly publicized visit to the Jewish holy site drew criticism from many observers, who questioned why he had not visited the Church of the Holy Sepulcher—Christianity’s most sacred site. Perhaps to address this backlash, Huckabee made a symbolic Easter Sunday visit to the Garden Tomb near Nablus Road. While photogenic, this site is widely disputed among scholars and theologians.
Israeli archaeologist Gabriel Barkay has stated that the tomb lacks features from the 1st century AD, the era in which Jesus lived, and was likely created between the 8th and 7th centuries BCE. Even the Garden Tomb Association, which manages the site and is affiliated with the Evangelical Alliance of Israel, avoids claiming it as the authentic burial place of Jesus.
So why did the U.S. ambassador avoid the Church of the Holy Sepulcher—the globally recognized site of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection?
Was he concerned about being confronted by Church leaders who have repeatedly called for a ceasefire in Gaza—calls that have gone ignored? Was he worried they might voice complaints about the Israeli police’s harsh treatment and restrictions on Christian worshippers during the Holy Fire ceremony the previous day?
As the saying goes, “A tiger cannot change its stripes,” and “a leopard cannot change its spots.” It seems unlikely that Ambassador Huckabee can conceal the deeply ideological views that he holds—views that many around the world, including within Israel, find troubling and out of step with longstanding U.S. foreign policy.
If anything, Huckabee’s actions and words only confirm what many suspected: that he is a committed Christian Zionist whose worldview leaves no room for a just peace between Israelis and Palestinians. So far, he has shown neither empathy nor concern for the Palestinian people, including Palestinian Christians who share his faith.
Daoud Kuttab is a Palestinian award-winning journalist and author of State of Palestine Now. He is a member of the board of the Institute for the Study of Christian Zionism. Follow him on X @daoudkuttab.
