This article is part of our series on the ‘Four Horsemen of the Trump-ocalypse.’ We believe this is the moment to capture the damage the Trump administration has inflicted throughout the U.S. and the world – and profile some of the people most responsible. You can read Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 here. The only way we can report original, long-form stories like these is with your support. – Mehdi
It was 1973. Mike Huckabee, a God-fearing young man from Arkansas, had just graduated from high school, and his “very wealthy” friend wanted to go on a celebratory trip. So the pair went to Israel.
“When I was there it was like I was in a place that I felt at home even though I’d never been there before,” Huckabee said about his first trip to Israel, noting he “saw the pioneer’s spirit among the Israeli people.”
“Part of it, quite frankly, was spiritual for me because here I was in the land of the Bible for reasons that one day God will reveal, but a land that He had chosen,” he continued. “I think of all the real estate on planet earth, He picks this little spot of land about the size of New Jersey and says: This is mine, right here.”
“And if I wasn’t even a believer, I would still come to the conclusion that the only explanation for Israel is God.”
Five decades later, Huckabee, 71, is now the United States’ chief representative to Israel, tasked with negotiating and engaging with the nation, and protecting Americans if they are ever threatened there. So far, Huckabee’s critics say he’s represented Israel’s interests as much, if not more, than America’s – and he’s done so while actively denying Israel’s genocide in Gaza, its occupation of Palestine, and its project of apartheid. Meanwhile, his family’s business has continued to take people on pricey tourist trips to Israel.
The Huckabee family’s travel company has taken hundreds of people to Israel over the years in what used to be called “The Israel Experience with Governor Mike Huckabee.” Promotional materials and disclosures reviewed by Zeteo show the company, now operated by Huckabee’s son, is still taking Americans on trips to Israel, even as Huckabee serves as the U.S. ambassador to it.
The situation mirrors, in miniature, how Donald Trump, his family, and some of his top advisers have – at a historic, record-shattering rate – cashed in on his presidency, including on business in the Middle East, with little concern about ethics or the appearance of corruption.
It remains a brutal irony that Trump was elected again in part due to depressed voter enthusiasm resulting from the Biden-Harris administration’s nearly unconditional support for Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
Now, back in power, Trump and his overtly Christian-nationalist and warmongering administration are not only supporting Israel’s constant violence against Palestine, as well as Lebanon; his top diplomat in Jerusalem, Huckabee, is a genocide denier who has gone as far as to say there is “no such thing as a Palestinian.” Critics say he has met those words with actions, as he constantly fails Palestinians and Americans at the behest of Israel.