Mike Huckabee, speaking to his Senate The confirmation hearing last month for the ambassador to Israel, stressed that he “would realize the president’s priorities, not mine”, suggesting that his personal opinions would not influence his diplomatic role.
Hopefully yes. While Mr. Huckabee tried to distance himself from his declarations made over the policy of the Middle East, these declarations reflected political and theological opinions which dehumanize the Palestinians and end up dishonoring the Jewish people. Nevertheless, the Senate confirmed on Wednesday, ensuring that its ideology will help shape American foreign policy in one of the most volatile regions in the world.
I have been a Palestinian-American who has been an evangelical minister for more than 20 years through the United States and the Middle East, engaged in the Gospel, rooted in conservative values and walking alongside Christian believers from all horizons. I saw what is happening when ideology diverts our theology. Empathy disappears, justice is rejected and the people who live in the country are dehumanized.
The United States has an essential role in promoting stability, justice and peace in the Middle East. This is why I find Mike Huckabee confirmation as an American ambassador in Israel so deeply disturbing.
The vision of the new ambassador has no future for the millions of Palestinians, including the Christian communities of Bethlehem and elsewhere in the West Bank, in Gaza and East Jerusalem, who have lived in the country since the time of Jesus. I feel it personally. My own family lives in Bethlehem, and the extended family of my wife remains in Gaza, where they continue to suffer under the Israeli military assault.
Over the years, Mr. Huckabee has denied the existence of the Palestinian people, calling them “A political tool to try to force the land far from Israel.“He rejected the concepts of occupation and colonies, rejected the legitimacy of the Palestinian state and once declared: “There is really nothing like a Palestinian.“In another case, he said“There is no West Bank – it is Judea and Samaria”, a reference to the biblical names favored by Israeli law.
These are not the words of a diplomat. They reflect a contempt for international law and world consensus, in particular the resolutions of the United Nations Security Council 242 and 2334, which affirm the inadmissibility of the territorial acquisition by the war and declare the Israeli colonies a blatant violation of international law.
Which underlies the declarations of Mr. Huckabee Christian Zionism Rooted in a framework at the end of the end of the 19th century known as dispensationism – a system of belief that interprets modern events in Israel as signs of fulfillment of biblical prophecies.
Pupcharged by the Bible Scofield of 1909 and modern televisionism, this theology considers the foundation of Israel in 1948 not as a Jewish self -determination but as a prophetic sign of the end of time marked by the world tribulation, the Jewish conversion and the return of Christ to the rule of Jerusalem.
During his show Huckabee todayMr. Huckabee enthusiastically approved the book of the end of time of the prolific Christian author Max Lucado, who describes the dispensationalist calendar. Lucado, in a CBN maintenancewarned that “there will be trouble on earth in the nation of Israel” during this period. Huckabee praised Lucado’s story as “a great service” for Christians.
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It is not a marginal belief for Mr. Huckabee – it is at the heart of the way he interprets the modern role of Israel. He described the growth of Israel as “the life of the Scriptures” ,,,, declared that “God gave (Israel) to the Jewish people 3,500 years ago” and describe the country as “the literal fulfillment of biblical prophecy”.
These points of view reflect a belief that modern Israeli policy achieves biblical prophecy and helps to explain Huckabee’s contempt for Palestinian existence and suffering.
During his confirmation audience, Mike Huckabee said: “We are ultimately people from the book. We believe that the Bible. And therefore, this connection is not geopolitical. It is also spiritual.” This unique line reveals a vision of the world which is equivalent to modern Israel to biblical Israel – and considers the policy of the old as divinely mandated.
This approach erases divisions among the Jews and the Israelis and promotes government policy as the realization of prophecy. The problem is not with the sacred text – or even its interpretation – but with the way it is twisted to defend the policies that contradict the main message of the peace of Christianity. For Palestinian Christians and my family, this politicized theology is not content to distort the Gospel – it turns against us.
This story can speak the language of Christian love for Israel, but it reduces Jewish identity to a prophetic role in a final script. Basically, he does not honor the Jewish people or confirms the richness of Judaism, regardless of the frequency at which he agitates the Israeli flag. Instead, it throws them – as well as the others – as players in a chronology that raises theological accomplishment on human dignity and the call of the Gospel to love and peace.
Although only a minority of Christians subscribed to this theology, there remains a powerful current in American evangelism.
The historian Daniel Hummel noted that Huckabee’s unshakable support in Israel is deeply rooted in his understanding of the end of time. As the Rabbi Jonah Pesner had warned him in a Senate letterThe ideology of Mr. Huckabee “professes a love of Israel rooted in the belief that Jewish sovereignty on the biblical earth of Israel will accelerate the return of Jesus Christ”.
Faithful Christians have a range of points of view on the end of time, often shaped by a sincere devotion to the Scriptures. But whatever the interpretation, we cannot ignore the realities on the ground for the Palestinians: decades of occupation, movement and suffering. No end -time scenario – once sincerely held – gives us permission to turn away from injustice. This is why I joined the main evangelical leaders of the Middle East in the publication of a Collective call Undering the World Church to hear the voices of Christians in the region and to work towards peace.
Gaza faces a humanitarian disaster: famine, collapse of hospitals and children undergoing surgery without pain relievers. According to UnicefMore than 15,000 children have been killed since October 7, 2023 and almost one million have been moved. The fact that Mr. Huckabee offers no word of compassion reveals the moral cost of an erroneous theology merged with non -critical political loyalty – an ideology that sanctifies suffering rather than getting up to the honorable role of diplomacy and the pursuit of peace.
The strength of America in the Middle East lies in the progress of justice, mutual respect and lasting prosperity for all its people. We need an ambassador who enters the room believing that peace is possible – even if it is difficult, even if it takes decades. We need a peacemaker, not a permanent war preacher. Confirming that Mike Huckabee sent the opposite message: that American diplomacy is no longer anchored in truth or compassion, but in the ideology passing for faith. The role of an ambassador is to build bridges – without hastening the apocalypse.
Dr. Fare Abraham is a Palestinian-American opinion leader and founder of Levant Minister. He grew up in Bethlehem and now directs several ministries through the Middle East to strengthen the witness of the Gospel and promote peace. Follow him on Instagram @Faresabraham
The points of view expressed in this article are the own writers.