Whose Ambassador Is Mike Huckabee?
An American ambassador carries a commission from the president, not a territorial mandate from the Book of Genesis. Mike Huckabee, our man in Jerusalem, appears to confuse the two.
In his February interview with Tucker Carlson, Huckabee discussed the biblical promise to the Prophet Abraham’s offspring of territorial ownership extending from the Nile to the Euphrates. Asked about Israel’s claimed entitlement to that land, he replied, “It would be fine if they took it all.” He subsequently called the remark hyperbolic and said Israel did not seek those territories. The embassy insisted American policy had not changed. Presumably our Arab partners should find comfort in learning that the ambassador’s biblical geography carries no immediate implementation schedule.
Huckabee can interpret Scripture as he pleases. His office requires him to distinguish religious conviction from American commitments. Diplomacy presents enough difficulties without divine title deeds.
Protecting American citizens requires considerably less biblical scholarship.
In July 2025, 29 senators demanded an independent American investigation into the killing of Sayfollah Musallet, a 20-year-old American beaten to death by Israeli settlers. They also sought answers about six earlier American deaths in the West Bank. More than a year later, the administration has offered assurances but delivered no demonstrated accountability. Several killings preceded Huckabee’s appointment. He inherited the obligation to pursue accountability; he did not inherit permission to forget them.
Huckabee condemned Musallet’s killing but we have yet to see any evidence that he has pressed the Israelis on the investigation. On September 29, Senator Chris Van Hollen described nine American deaths since January 2022 and charged that none had produced accountability.
On October 9, Van Hollen requested hearings into reported obstruction of congressional inquiries by Huckabee and his adviser David Milstein. Citing a New York Times investigation, he charged that Milstein blocked an embassy report detailing the investigations’ status and sought assurances to Congress that Israel was handling them properly instead. Huckabee denies the reporting. Congress should obtain the original report and compel testimony.
Did Huckabee authorize or tolerate suppression? Did he obstruct efforts to secure justice? What pressure did he exert on Israeli authorities? If he deliberately frustrated accountability for the killing of Americans to shield the Israeli government, he betrayed his oath of office.
An American passport should mean something even when its holder has a Palestinian name.
The indigenous Christians of the Holy Land deserve similar seriousness. Their communities preserved Christianity in its birthplace for centuries before American evangelical churches existed. They need protection, not incorporation into someone else’s prophetic timetable.
In July, 2025, Jerusalem’s church leaders demanded action over attacks by settlers around the Christian-majority town of Taybeh. Huckabee visited and condemned religious desecration, then emphasized that he had not identified whoever caused the fire near the ancient church. To me, at least, it appears that Huckabee implied that parishioners set the fire to blame the settlers. By July 29, church leaders reported another assault involving burned vehicles and threatening graffiti. A diplomatic visit cannot substitute for sustained protection. Does Huckabee have a problem offering protection to Catholic and Orthodox Christians?
Huckabee shows considerably less caution when accusing Qatar. In August, he linked Qatar and the Muslim Brotherhood to propaganda aimed at young Americans, describing funding for Middle East studies as “cold, brutal cash.” In July, Breitbart reported Huckabee declaring: “We know that Qatar’s poured 400 billion dollars in to influence Americans.” Which expenditures? Where is his accounting?
I served as U.S. ambassador to Qatar and later as president of the U.S.-Qatar Business Council. In the latter capacity, I helped recruit my alma mater, Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, to Education City, a shared campus for leading Western universities, including six prominent American institutions. I still sit on one of the Foreign Service School’s boards. I would testify under oath that I have seen no evidence of any Qatari attempt to promote antisemitism at my school.
I also helped the Qatar Foundation in its initial negotiations and saw contracts taking shape. American educators advising the Foundation explained the customary charges for indirect costs, or Facilities and Administration (F&A) – overhead and back-office support. The U.S. government pays F&A as well. Educators elsewhere subsequently confirmed the practice. Education City universities initially sought a high F&A; the Qataris negotiated them down, reaching a separate agreement with each institution.
Payments reaching American university accounts included legitimate administrative expenses supporting education in Doha. Huckabee’s insinuations turn the ordinary business of running universities into something sinister – without evidence.
The Quincy Institute’s analysis of federal disclosures counted $6.25 billion in Qatari university funding since 2001. It found that 97 percent went to six institutions, with most funding supporting their campuses in Qatar. Reporting payments to American institutions to educate Qataris does not establish indoctrination on American campuses.
I personally resent this sweeping smear of Georgetown and its educators into a swamp of Huckabee’s own invention. I take pride in helping bring Georgetown to Qatar. I watched people undertake serious educational work. I will not quietly accept an American ambassador casting suspicion on their integrity because students reach conclusions about Israel that offend him. If Huckabee has evidence against Georgetown, let him produce it. Identify the course, the instruction, the payment that purchased the prejudice. He does not get to substitute “billions” for proof.
He might also consider that people object to Israel’s conduct because of what they see. They do not need Qatar to purchase their indignation.
In my 36-year Foreign Service career, I learned that friendship with a host country sometimes requires uncomfortable conversations. An ambassador must report truths the host government would prefer Washington never heard. As an even higher obligation, he must defend American citizens. Huckabee should bring the same energy to those duties that he brings to defending Israel’s reputation and smearing American universities.
Huckabee should also remember that he represents the United States of America, not the Book of Genesis.