Huckabee points to 3 factors in many Americans turning against Israel

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee laid out multiple reasons Americans may be turning against Israel in an interview Thursday — the same day Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended the country’s actions at the United Nations General Assembly.

Huckabee pointed to social media disinformation and foreign propaganda, a lack of “biblical literacy” and a hatred toward people who accept that “there is a God and that he’s made up the rules for life” to explain Americans’ rising dissatisfaction toward Israel.

“You add all that together, I guess you just want to be mad at Israel and blame them for everything,” Huckabee said during a discussion with NewsNation’s Leland Vittert.

“And it’s very unfortunate because Israel has actually given to the world and especially to America and our partnership some very valuable things,” he added.

According to a Pew Research Center survey, favorable views of the Israeli government have dropped in recent years, with 62 percent of Americans holding an unfavorable view of the nation’s government. A wide partisan gap has appeared as well, with 51 percent of Republicans holding favorable opinions of the Netanyahu-led government while only 16 percent of Democrats feel the same. Americans also have low confidence in Netanyahu.

While Democrats have more widely criticized Israel in recent years, Republicans have also changed their tone on the Middle Eastern ally, particularly since the start of the Iran war early this year, which was launched in tandem with Israel.

Former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) called Israeli actions in Gaza a genocide, while conservative commentator Tucker Carlson has been critical of both the Gaza war and Israel’s role in pushing the U.S. into Iran. Carlson traveled to Israel for a tense interview with Huckabee in February.

Greene and Carlson are part of a small but loud segment of Trump’s MAGA coalition that says the president has broken his promise to stay out of foreign wars and put “America first.”

Danny Danon, Israel’s ambassador to the U.N., disputed the falling statistics in an interview this week, blaming the way the questions were asked for the low scores. Danon told The Hill he believes the majority of Americans “appreciate the bond and alliance between the people” of the U.S. and Israel.

Huckabee has been criticized by figures including Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) for claiming Israel has a biblical claim to land beyond its current borders and that it would “be fine” if Israel expanded across the region, along with other actions.

“He’s become a complete apologist for the most extreme Israeli government in history,” Van Hollen said. “He should be defending Americans and defending American interests, he’s failed to do so.”

Huckabee argued claims that Israeli actions in Gaza were genocidal or that it is an apartheid state are wrong and that people will have to be willing to “look at truth” to start to improve American views of the nation.

“This is a place where Muslims, Druze, Christians serve in the military. They vote. They can be in the Knesset. Quite a few Arabs are in the Knesset,” Huckabee said. “They serve on the Supreme Court. They run some of the biggest businesses in the country. If you’re apartheid, that’s not making any sense.”

“I think it’s somewhat of a spiritual problem where people just don’t want to hear the truth because they want to be mad at somebody,” Huckabee said. “Well, let’s pick on the Jews.”