Trump's week in review: From Faith Summit to Epstein developments
5. US Amb. Mike Huckabee blasts Israel over Evangelicals' visa restrictions
In a letter leaked to the Israeli press on Thursday, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee expressed “profound disappointment” that a meeting he had with Israel’s Interior Minister Moshe Arbel did not result in “a resolution of the issue of routine granting of visas for Christian organizations.” The letter, addressed to Arbel as well as other senior officials in the Israeli government and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, comes two months after Huckabee and Arbel met to discuss the U.S. government's concerns about the matter.
Huckabee maintained that the Israeli government was subjecting Christian groups seeking to travel to Israel to “bureaucratic harassment” by conducting extensive investigations into their religious beliefs that ultimately resulted in them not receiving visas.
“It is incomprehensible that the situation is deteriorating rather than improving,” Huckabee wrote. “The U.S. and Evangelical Christian organizations are Israel’s allies, yet we are being treated like adversaries. As the U.S. ambassador, I formally request a resolution to the deteriorating relations with the Ministry of the Interior to avoid further escalation.”
Huckabee suggested that if the issue was not resolved, the U.S. Embassy to Israel would have to “publicly inform Americans that Israel does not welcome Christian organizations and is instead subjecting them to harassment and ill treatment.” Huckabee also indicated that in the absence of changes to the Israeli government’s treatment of Christians, he would “have no choice but to instruct our consular department to consider reciprocal actions against Israeli citizens applying for U.S. visas.”
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: ryan.foley@christianpost.com
