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| Moshe Arbel |
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee has threatened to publicly declare that Israel no longer welcomes Christian groups to Israel over what he said was Jerusalem’s failure to approve tourist visas for evangelical missions.
The threat was issued in a letter that Huckabee sent on Wednesday to Interior Minister Moshe Arbel, which was leaked to Hebrew media on Thursday. Arbel pushed back on the allegations in a response letter that was obtained by The Times of Israel.
Huckabee in his letter threatened to order his embassy to take reciprocal measures against Israeli tourists seeking visas to enter the US.
Given Huckabee’s longstanding support for Israel and close ties with the current government in particular, the rhetoric in his letter represented a shockingly quick deterioration.
But the issue at hand — the ability of Christian groups to tour Israel — is close to Huckabee’s heart, given that he has led countless such trips as an evangelical pastor over the past half a century.
The back-and-forth letters came almost two months after Huckabee and Arbel met on May 27 to discuss problems encountered by Christian Zionists seeking to visit Israel.
“It is with great distress that I express to you my profound disappointment [that the] meeting held in your office has not resulted in what I had hoped to be [the start] of a resolution of the issue of routine granting of visas for Christian organizations,” Huckabee wrote in the letter, which was partially shown on Channel 12’s broadcast.
According to the Ynet news site, Huckabee wrote to Arbel that at the start of 2025, the Interior Ministry launched investigations into several evangelical Christian organizations with long ties to Israel, including the Baptist Conference in Israel and the Christian Missionary Alliance.
Huckabee informed Arbel that these organizations were required to complete lengthy questionnaires and that they had still not received new visas for religious leaders to travel to Israel, despite submitting their applications at the beginning of the year.
“It would be very unfortunate if our embassy were forced to publicly announce throughout the United States that the State of Israel does not welcome Christian organizations and their representatives, and instead engages in harassment and negative treatment of them. We are also obligated to warn Christians in America that their generous donations are being met with hostility, and that tourists should reconsider their travels,” the US envoy wrote, according to the Belaaz Jewish news site.
Huckabee sent copies of his letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Isaac Herzog, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana.
In addition to threatening a public announcement that Israel no longer welcomes Christian groups, Huckabee said he would warn American Christians that their donations are not received warmly, and that tourists should reconsider any plans to visit Israel if the issue is not resolved.
“Unfortunately, if the Israeli government continues to cause bureaucratic harassment, I will have no choice but to instruct our consular department to explore the possibility of reciprocal treatment of Israeli citizens applying for visas to the United States. This is certainly not the relationship that the State of Israel wants to have with its best partner and friend on Earth,” Huckabee wrote.
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.
“Every request that was personally brought to the attention of my office has been addressed within an exceptionally short time frame,” Arbel insisted.
“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.
1 comment:
That was always going to be the weakness in the relationship. Huckabee's Israel-love is based on his strong Chrisian convictions so any slight towards them in Israel is going to bother him.
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