Anti-Israel protesters interrupt Mike Huckabee’s nomination for ambassador to Israel

Huckabee, an evangelical Christian, describes himself as an ‘unapologetic, unreformed Zionist.’

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

At a Senate hearing to confirm Mike Huckabee as ambassador to Israel, anti-Israel protesters disturbed the proceedings, made loud, piercing noises, and attacked Huckabee’s Christian faith.

Capitol police removed protesters who disrupted Huckabee’s opening speech three times.

The protesters chanted “Jews say no” and “Free Palestine” and claimed Huckabee “misuses Christianity to justify ethnic cleansing.”

“Israel and the US have desecrated the Holy Land; stop the ethnic cleansing,” shouted another protester.

Huckabee made light of the interruption and quipped, “The good news is they’re not members of my family, which might be the case protesting me sometimes.”

When boisterous protesters made a fourth interruption, Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jim Risch, R-Idaho said, “All right. Out.”

Huckabee, an evangelical Christian who describes himself as an “unapologetic, unreformed Zionist,” has attracted the ire of anti-Israel activists because he approved of Israel’s potential annexation of Judea and Samaria.

During the hearing, he didn’t comment on proposals to annex Judea and Samaria or Gaza and instead indicated he would defer to US President Donald Trump on policy issues.

Regarding Judea and Samaria’s annexation, Huckabee said, “I have previously supported it. Yes, sir. But it would not be my prerogative to make that the president’s policy.”

Concerning Israel’s taking control of Gaza, Huckabee responded, “Once again, it would be the prerogative of the president.”

Shortly after Huckabee was nominated as ambassador to Israel, Rabbi Tuly Weisz told the Israel-based ILTV television channel that the former Arkansas Governor is so enamored of the Jewish State that “he wants to be a settler himself.”

Weisz, who lives in Beit Shemesh in central Israel, said in the interview, “Mike Huckabee is the biggest proponent of Judea and Samaria. He doesn’t even call it the West Bank. He only refers to it by its historical and biblical name: Yehuda and Shomron, Judea and Samaria. The Biden administration sanctioned settlers, and Mike Huckabee wants to buy a house in Efrat [in Judea] and become a settler himself.”