US Ambassador Mike Huckabee with Israeli President Isaac Herzog after Huckabee presented his credentials at the President's Residence in Jerusalem, April 21, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
US President Trump’s Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee presents his credentials to President Isaac Herzog and warns that if Iran succeeds in destroying Israel, the US will be the next target.
By World Israel News Staff
The new US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee met with Israeli President Isaac Herzog at the president’s residence in Jerusalem on Monday afternoon to present his credentials and formally begin his term as America’s top diplomat to the Jewish state.
At a ceremony welcoming the former Arkansas governor, Herzog spoke out on Iran’s nuclear program and its use of proxy groups – including Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis – to attack Israel and destabilize the Middle East.
Iran, Herzog said, “continues to pursue its radical vision of regional dominance and destabilization, on its own and via its proxies, whilst pursuing nuclear arms and openly calling for the destruction of Israel.”
The Israeli president also addressed efforts by Israel and the US to return the remaining 59 hostages held by Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip.
“I know you, Mike, share both our heartbreak and our absolute resolve to see every last hostage freed from the Hamas dungeons and returned to their loved ones,” Herzog continued. “Immediately. Every last one.”
Huckabee, a 69-year-old ordained Baptist preacher who served as governor of Arkansas and ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008, echoed Herzog’s concerns regarding Iran’s nuclear aspirations, arguing that the US was Tehran’s primary target.
“It has always been their desire that Israel would be the opening act and then it would be America’s turn to face destruction,” said Huckabee. “Or to put it another simple way, Israel is the appetizer and the United States is the entree.”
A long-time supporter of Israel and leader in the Evangelical community in the US, Huckabee was tapped by President Donald Trump shortly after his November 2024 presidential win.
Huckabee arrived in Israel on Friday and visited the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem shortly after his arrival, placing a note Trump had given him in the wall.
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