US ambassador Huckabee: pressure on Israel is an outrage, Hamas has no morality

Huckabee: “This kind of savagery can’t be dealt with by diplomacy and talking … one has to have some level of morality to sit down and talk – and Hamas does not.”

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

U.S. ambassador Mike Huckabee on Thursday rejected negotiations with Hamas and defended Israel’s campaign in Gaza, saying diplomacy cannot succeed with an organization he characterized as immoral and violent.

He spoke at the Reichman University World Summit of the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism in Herzliya, where he described international criticism of Israel as “outrage[d]” and said he found pressure from allies baffling.

“This kind of savagery can’t be dealt with by diplomacy and talking,” he said, adding that “one has to have some level of morality to sit down and talk – and Hamas does not.”

He dismissed conciliatory approaches as “babble and vanilla-coated nonsense,” and warned that complacent diplomacy would be deadly.

Huckabee urged a firm Israeli response, asserting the country has “no choice but to end the Hamas occupation of Gaza.”

He likened tolerating Hamas rule to leaving Nazis in power after World War II.

“To do anything less than end Hamas rule in Gaza would be as ridiculous as it would have been to leave the Nazis in power in Germany after World War II.”

The ambassador warned that any perceived victory for Hamas would invite “more October 7s and more hostages being taken.”

He singled out European and Canadian policy directions as puzzling, saying they “make no sense,” and reiterated Trump’s stance that Hamas “has no future” and cannot govern Gaza.

He warned diplomacy that assumes “everyone is on the same side, with slight variations of opinion, that’s going to get us killed,” arguing such assumptions risk civilian lives.

Addressing Israelis directly, Huckabee told them not to prioritize foreign approval over national security.

“Our jobs as nations is not to live our lives so people will like us, but to live our lives so that we have a life to live,” he said, urging Israel to remain willing to “fight our enemies to the death” to protect that life.