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The Senate confirmation hearing for Gov. Mike Huckabee to become the U.S. ambassador to Israel was delayed once again—this time from March 13 to March 25.
According to sources close to the Trump administration, the postponement was driven by Democratic opposition and pressure from the liberal Jewish community, adding another layer of controversy to his appointment.
“The Democrats will do everything possible to delay the hearing,” said Friends of Zion founder Mike Evans. After learning of the delay, Evans wrote a letter to all members of the Senate in support of Huckabee’s nomination. That letter was disseminated on Tuesday.
Republicans hold a slim 53-49 majority in the Senate, putting Huckabee’s appointment at risk if even a few GOP members break ranks.
Huckabee was one of the first appointments announced by President Donald Trump after his election and, if confirmed, would be the first Evangelical Christian to serve as U.S. ambassador to Israel. His nomination holds significant importance for the Evangelical community, a key voting bloc that helped secure Trump’s return to the White House.
The Senate officially received his nomination on February 11, 2025.
In his letter, Evans wrote that Huckabee has “been criticized for being a Christian Zionist. In fact, he is a Christian Zionist, and I am also, as are more than 50 million Bible-believing Americans.”
He added that “Israel has been weakened by Jew haters who have used the Palestinians as proxies. To weaken Israel is to destabilize the Middle East and risk the peace of the world, for the road to world peace runs through the Middle East.” Evans praised Huckabee as a man of “moral clarity” and emphasized that “if there was ever a time Israel needed a U.S. ambassador whose foundation is a support of Zionism and moral clarity, it is now.”
Evans’ letter follows a contrasting message sent to Congress nearly three weeks earlier by the Union for Reform Judaism and the Central Conference of American Rabbis. In their letter, these groups expressed deep concerns over Huckabee’s nomination, citing his opposition to a Palestinian state and his Christian theology.
The rabbis reminded senators that in 2008, as a presidential candidate, Huckabee stated: “There’s really no such thing as a Palestinian.” They also pointed out that, in 2017, “Huckabee denied the reality of Israel’s decades-long occupation of the West Bank.” More recently, in an interview with Israel Radio following his nomination, the former governor welcomed the possibility of Israeli annexation of Judea and Samaria, or the West Bank.
“Gov. Huckabee’s views may be shaped in significant part by his deeply held evangelical faith, including what is known as ‘Christian Zionism,’” the letter reads. “This ideology professes a love of Israel rooted in the belief that Jewish sovereignty over the biblical land of Israel will hasten the return of Jesus Christ. Gov. Huckabee can hold whatever faith views he believes. At the same time, as Jews and Zionists, we are gravely concerned by a teaching in which the well-being of Jews, of Israel, and of America are not ends in themselves but means to the fulfillment of Christian eschatology.”
Ynetnews reached out to several Democratic senators for comment, but none responded. The outlet also contacted the director of strategic communications for the Union for Reform Judaism, who did not respond.
J Street’s founder and president, Jeremy Ben-Ami, told ILTV and Ynet News that the U.S. ambassador should be about representing American interests—not personal radical beliefs or ideology, as he believes is the case with Huckabee.
“Having Mike Huckabee as Ambassador from the U.S. would undermine the president’s goal of ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and facilitating regional normalization,” Ben-Ami said. “The biggest obstacles to that goal are extremists who deny the existence of the other side and seek all the land for only one party. Mike Huckabee’s views undermine President Trump’s goals and are a recipe for annexation, isolation, democratic decline and endless conflict.”
