Mike Huckabee to Israel: End hostile treatment of Christian allies

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, President Trump’s nominee to be ambassador to Israel, testifies during his confirmation hearing. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

(JTA) — A simmering dispute over Israel’s treatment of visa applications by Christian groups has boiled over into a diplomatic standoff, with U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee threatening to warn American Christians against visiting the Jewish state if the issue is not resolved and suggesting that the foundation of the American-Israel relationship is in jeopardy.

In a sharply worded letter sent Wednesday, Huckabee accused Israel’s Interior Ministry of arbitrarily blocking visa renewals for evangelical clergy and educational workers — some, he noted, from denominations with a presence in the region dating back to before the founding of the state in 1948. The ambassador, a pastor and prominent Christian Zionist, said in the letter that despite a seemingly productive meeting with the Interior Ministry, the situation had since “actually gotten worse.”

“We feel we are being treated as adversaries,” Huckabee wrote in the letter, which was leaked to Israeli media and published by the Times of Israel. “It would be very unfortunate if our Embassy were to publicly announce throughout the United States that the State of Israel is no longer welcoming Christian organizations.”

The letter continued, “We would further be obligated to warn Christians in America that their generous contributions to organizations to Christians in America that their generous contributions to organizations to promote goodwill in Israel are being met with hostility and that tourists should promote goodwill in Israel are being met with hostility and that tourists should reconsider travel until this situation is resolved with clarity.”

A day later, Interior Minister Moshe Arbel responded in a letter obtained by the Times of Israel, defending his ministry’s conduct and expressing surprise at Huckabee’s broad circulation of his complaints, which were copied to top Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog.

“I was particularly surprised by the manner in which your concerns were raised,” Arbel wrote. “Every request received by my office has thus far been handled promptly… In my view, this course of action deviates from accepted working norms.”

The clash has the potential to upset one of the most important political and philanthropic constituencies supporting Israel in the United States: evangelical Christians. In recent decades, their contributions have helped fund settlement projects, social services, and security initiatives.

The dispute also comes at a time of close U.S.-Israel coordination on defense, with Huckabee referencing a recent joint military operation against Iran. “Surely this is not the relationship the State of Israel wishes to have with its best partner and friend on the planet,” he wrote.

The controversy centers on a policy shift within the Interior Ministry, which, according to Huckabee, no longer honors the Ministry of Religious Affairs’ recommendations for granting visas to clergy seeking to conduct religious activity in the country. (Americans can enter Israel without a visa for tourism, business meetings or short-term study.) Instead, evangelical groups must now undergo extensive scrutiny, including filling out questionnaires about their beliefs, assets, and activities, before being approved for A3 religious worker visas.

“This includes many historic organizations such as the Baptist Convention of Israel, Christian Missionary Alliance, Assemblies of God,” Huckabee wrote. “To the best of my knowledge, none of them have received new visas since the beginning of the year, as they are all ‘under investigation.’”

It’s unclear what prompted the change in treatment, with neither letter citing a cause. The Times of Israel quoted an unnamed employee of a Christian Zionist organization suggesting that Israeli officials had beefed up its vetting process over “concerns of concealed antisemitism or of proselytizing.”

Arbel is an Orthodox politician whose party announced this week it was leaving Prime Minister Netanyahu’s government in protest of a proposal to begin conscripting Orthodox men to the military, ending their longstanding exemption. As part of the party’s departure, Arbel will soon be stepping down from his post.

Arbel acknowledged that misunderstandings can occur and reaffirmed his commitment to resolving such visa issues “with the utmost efficiency,” citing coordination with Huckabee’s legal representative, Calev Myers. Arbel said every visa request that was brought to his office directly has been handled swiftly.

But Huckabee’s letter suggested that the broader system is broken. He warned that unless the process is reversed to reflect decades of precedent, the United States might consider retaliatory measures, including restricting visa access for Israeli citizens seeking to enter the United States.

This isn’t the first time the Interior Ministry has come under fire over its treatment of Christian visa applicants. In 2023, after similar complaints from evangelical groups, the ministry issued a public apology and pledged to resume processing clergy visas following a months-long freeze. At the time, officials attributed the delays to bureaucratic backlog and miscommunication, but many Christian leaders viewed it as part of a recurring pattern of disregard.

The diplomatic flare-up over Christian visas coincided with an Israeli airstrike that hit Gaza’s only Catholic church, killing three people and injuring several others, according to the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem. The incident, which drew international condemnation and allegations that Israel was targeting Christians, prompted an expression of “deep sorrow” from the Israeli government. Netanyahu issued a public apology after President Donald Trump personally raised the issue him. Israel’s military said the church was struck unintentionally during fighting with Hamas and that an investigation was underway.